Box Score CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Lee University men's basketball team dropped the opening game of the season in heartbreaking fashion losing to Valdosta State 81-79 on Thursday night. The Flames and Blazers traded the lead seven times in the last seven minutes with the Blazers coming out on top. The Flames were led by Beyuan Hendricks who scored 24 points.
 
The Flames came out firing making their first three shots which were all three pointers. PJay Smith hit two and Beyuan Hendricks had one to give Lee the 9-2 lead early. The Blazers then answered with an 9-3 run to tie the game at 11-11.
 
Hendricks continued to make shots as he scored 13 points before the first half reached the midway point to give the Flames a 28-19 lead. Tim Vaughn also scored his first career bucket. The Chattanooga native hit a three to help keep the lead in favor of the Flames. Lee extended the lead to 27-22 but then struggled to score for the next several minutes and went over four minutes without scoring. Valdosta was also struggling to put points on the board as both teams went under 50% from the field. The Blazers cut the deficit down to 30-28 before Hendricks hit his fourth three point shot of the first half to end the scoreless streak for Lee. Hendricks hit one more three in the first half and gave the Flames a 38-37 lead at the break. 

The two teams traded buckets to start the second half before a three pointer from Jacolbey Owens gave Valdosta State their first lead at 49-48 with 15 minutes to go in the game. The Flames answered right back with a three pointer from Smith. Hendricks continued to shoot well in the second half and hit his sixth three point shot of the game to force a timeout from Valdosta State as the Flames took a 64-59 lead with 8:10 left in the game. The Flames went on a three minute scoring drought and VSU took a one point lead. Vaughn then snapped the scoreless streak to give Lee a 68-67 lead. Valdosta then went on a 5-0 run to take their largest lead at 72-68 with four minutes remaining in the contest.
 
Valdosta extended the lead 76-71 before Jayce Willingham and Smith both scored to bring it back down to 77-76. The teams traded buckets until VSU led 81-79 with seven seconds left. Lee got off a shot and tip on the rebound but neither were able to go in and the Flames lost by two points.

Head Coach Bubba Smith knows this will be a learning experience for the team. "To win on the road you have to play with a level of discipline and toughness, and we didn't tonight. Valdosta deserved to win. Give them credit. They made tougher plays. The margins are so thin in the GSC.We will learn a lot from this game. Now we have to turn our attention to a talented UWF team." 

Hendricks led all scorers with 24 points. He was 9-for-12 from the field including 6-8 from three point line. Smith added 17 points and five rebounds. Willingham had 19 points and five rebounds as well. VSU was 17-of-22 from the free throw line while Lee was 1-of-3. The Flames had 18 assists and shot 52.5% from the field in the loss.
 
 The Flames will head to Pensacola, Fla. And will face the Argos of the University of West Florida on Saturday, November 19 at 8 PM.