CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Lee University basketball team held off a tenacious Shorter University team to earn a 76-66 win on Thursday evening. Lee made 24 free throws on the way to the ten point victory. It was the second win in a row for the Flames and snapped a two game home losing streak. With the win Lee improved to 16-6 overall and 15-6 in Gulf South Conference play.
Lee had an early 11-0 run thanks to buckets from PJay Smith, Jayce Willingham, and Michael McGuirk to take a 13-4 lead in the first four minutes in the game. After that point both teams were quiet on the offensive end. Beyuan Hendricks hit a three before Shorter managed to trim the lead down to 21-18.
Willingham answered with a three point shot fort he Flames to push it back out to 24 -18 lead. That sparked a 9-0 run for the Flames. Smith hit back-to-back three-point shots and Lee pushed the lead out to 33-22. Smith scored 14 of the first 33 points for the Flames. Lee continued to push the tempo but couldn't really pull away in the first half. Lee had the lead out to 15 points but Shorter had an answer and Lee led 44-31 at the halftime break.
Noah Boler came out strong to start the second scoring five straight points for the Flames push the Lee lead back out to 50-35. After that the Flames went cold going scoreless for over three minutes cutting the lead down to 50-42. Tariq Daughton finally stopped the drought by sinking two free throws. Tim Vaughn the laid the basketball in and was fouled to push the lead back out to 54-42.
A couple of free throws from Michael McGuirk made it a 14-point lead at 58-44 but then the Flames went cold from the field again. Shorter went on another 8-0 run over three minutes and cut it back down to 58-52 and forced the Flames to take a timeout. Willingham finally made a jumper from the free throw line to end the drought.
Daughton continued to play very well in the second half. He hit five straight points to give Lee the 65-57 lead with five minutes left in the contest. Neither team was able to really get anything going again the last couple of minutes. Hendricks and Willingham were a combined seven for eight from the free throw line in the last two minutes to secure the 76-66 win over Shorter.
Head Coach Bubba Smith was pleased with the win but know there is still work to be done. "It's a game where our team and our bench know we can play better. We must find ways to be stronger down in the paint on the defensive end. We had stretches where we were ok but too many easy buckets for Shorter. Give them credit for attacking there We have to find ways to make our defense better. We were great at getting to the line and making free throws today. Daughton was great off the bench. His motor really affected the game and brought energy on both ends of the court. . We will take the win. We have a tough test on Saturday against a very good West Georgia team.
The Flames were outscored in the paint 48-22. Lee was 24-for-29 from the free throw line in the win. Four different Lee players scored in double figures with 18 from Willingham, 14 from Smith, 12 from McGuirk, and 11 from Hendricks. Boler added ten rebounds for Lee.
The Flames will head to Carrollton, Ga. on Saturday, February 18 and will take on the University of West Georgia at 4 PM.
