Valdosta, Ga. – The Lee men's basketball team earned an important road victory on Thursday evening as it completed a season sweep of Valdosta State with a 67-58 victory over the Blazers.
The Flames used their trademark smothering defense to limit the home team to just 35 percent shooting from the field and 24 percent from the 3-point line.
Offensively the Flames shared the basketball with Jayce Willingham leading the way with 15 points and eight rebounds. Quay Kennedy followed with 14 points and nine boards and Michael McGuirk added 11 and eight.
Freshman PJay Smith got his first start of the season and connected on a 3-pointer with 5:58 to give the Flames a 24-21 advantage with 5:58 left in the first half. Lee would lead the rest of the way and extended the advantage to as much as 12 in the second half.
"Tonight, was an important night for our team to bounce back from two tough losses. Valdosta is hard to beat at home. We made some changes to our lineup and I thought we got some good minutes from each guy that stepped on the floor tonight," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "As far as effort plays, second chance points, and points in the paint, we won those battles tonight and needed to get an edge back that we've been missing the last couple games."
Noah Boler came off bench to grab eight points and four rebounds in 12 minutes. The Flames scored 36 points in the paint and 14 second chance points. Lee held a 42-35 advantage on the glass over the Blazers.
Cam Hamilton led the Valdosta State with 12 points while Jacolbey Owens and Michael Cole had 11 each. Mohamed Fofana nearly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
"I still don't think we are playing our best basketball, especially on the offensive end, so I know we have a lot to room to grow still," noted Smith.
The Flames have now won six straight against the Blazers dating back to Dec. 15, 2018. Overall the series is now even at 8-8.
With just four regular season games remaining the all-important win moves the Flames to 14-8 and 10-6 in the GSC. The loss drops the Blazers to 11-13 and 7-10 in conference. The conference race is heating up as the Flames move into sole possession of the third place. The Argonauts and West Georgia are just a half game back in a tie for fourth place at 10-7. The top four teams will host the quarterfinal round of the GSC Championships on Tuesday, Mar. 1
The tough road trip continues Saturday with a visit to West Florida for a 5 p.m. battle. The road trip wraps up at Mississippi College on Monday at 7 p.m.
