Montevallo, Ala. – Quay Kennedy and Michael McGuirk dropped 24 points as the No. 25 Lee men's basketball earned a crucial road Gulf South Conference victory over Montevallo, 85-75 on Friday night.
The Flames shot a sizzling 61 percent from the field and went 26 of 32 from the foul line to seal the victory. Kennedy caught fire from the 3-point line going 4 of 6. McGuirk did plenty of damage from the foul line as he cashed in 12 of 13 free throws to go along with nine boards. Jayce Willingham added 11 points and point guard Beyuan Hendricks had 10 along while dishing out five assists.
"Getting the first game of a series on the road is really important. I thought we did a good job early on both sides of the ball and it forced them to go to zone early," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "It took us a while to settle in against the zone, but I thought we finally started to get some movement and played more inside out and really shared the ball. I thought our guys were really unselfish tonight and were eager to create for others."
The Flames took a 36-32 lead into the halftime break and never trailed in the second half. Lee expanded the lead up to 16 on a couple of actions and closed out the final minute of the game connecting on eight straight foul shots.
Freshman Noah Boler made his presence felt off the bench on the defensive end recording eight blocks and three steals. The Lee defense overall contained the Falcons to just 40 percent shooting on the night. "A big key to winning on the road is getting good minutes from our bench. Those guys were ready tonight and it showed," added Smith.
"We still have to improve late in games with our ball control and make sure we don't give possessions back without getting great offensive possessions under four minutes. I know we are asking guys to do a lot and especially Beyuan is having to do so much for our team. Beyuan's plus/minus was best on the team and I thought he was the best he's been all year playing through the ball screen," said Smith.
Xavier Malcom scored 19 points, 15 from beyond the arc, and had six rebounds for the home team as he played the full 40 minutes. James McNeil followed with 18.
With the win the Flames stop a two-game slide and improve to 10-4. The Falcons fall to an even 6-6 on the year. The two clubs will wrap up the series tomorrow at 3 p.m.
