In a matchup that featured 13 lead changes and 13 ties the West Florida Argonauts outlasted the Lee men's basketball team, 74-71 in a classic Gulf South Conference battle on Saturday afternoon in Walker Arena.

The Flames went on a 12-0 run to turn a six-point deficit with 13:20 left in the second half into an eight-point 62-54 lead with 8:01 remaining on a Noah Boler layup.
From there however West Florida would close on a 20-9 run to claim the road victory. Quay Kennedy gave the Flames a 71-70 lead with 56 ticks left but sophomore Daniel Sofield finished a layup in the paint and after a defensive stop converted two free throws to make it a 74-71. The Flames had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but Kennedy's 3-pointer fell short.

"I thought we were pretty content to exchange basket for basket in the first half and that's not the style we want to play," said head coach Bubba Smith. "We played with a ton of energy and heart and really got after it in the second half and that's how we need to play for the entire 40 minutes. We also have to be better in the final four minutes. We talked about getting big buckets and getting big stops and unfortunately much like in the Union game, we had our chances tonight and we weren't able to finish on either end of the court."

Jayce Willingham led the Flames with 16 points and six rebounds. Kennedy added 12 points and Jason Landman posted 10 points and six rebounds. Beyuan Hendricks dished off four assists and finished with eight points.

Daniel Sofield led the Argonauts with 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting from the field. Darrin Jenkins added 14 points and Wendall Matthews had 12 points. Jejuan Weatherspoon came of the bench to give West Florida a double-double performance with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Lee shot 41 percent from the field, 25 percent from the beyond the arc (6 of 24) and 9 of 10 from the charity stripe. West Florida finished the contest converting 53 percent from the field, 38 percent from the 3-point line (5 of 13) and 7 of 11 from the foul line.

The Flames fall to 5-4 and 1-2 in the GSC. West Florida improves to 8-1 and 2-0 in league play.

Lee will get right back to work on Monday evening as it hosts another GSC contender in Valdosta State at 8 p.m. The pre-Christmas schedule finishes off with rival Alabama Huntsville next Saturday at 4 p.m.