CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Lee University men's basketball team fell behind early, but stormed back and ran past the visiting Union University Bulldogs 72-55 on Thursday evening to improve their record to 18-6 overall and 17-6 in GSC play. The Flames made 12 three-point shots to pull ahead and get the win.
The Flames scored the first bucket of the game behind a jumper from Jayce Willingham. Lee added a three from Noah Boler and two free throws from Beyuan Hendricks to take a 7-5 lead. Then the Flames went cold from the field. Lee didn't score for over six minutes. Union rattled of 14 straight points to push the lead out to 19-7.
Willingham ended the cold snap with a three-point shot and then Josh Lowe added a lyup to go on their own 5-0 run. Lee fought back with three pointers from Hendricks and Michael McGuirk to make it 23-22. Willingham then added two free throws to give Lee the 24-23 lead with 5:30 left in the first half. The two teams then traded buckets until Lee led at the break 35-31.
Neither team was able to get much going in the first several minutes of the second half, but the Bulldogs were able to trim into the lead and cut it down to 37-36 with 15 minutes left in the game. The Flames responded going on a 10-2 run. The run was capped off with Lowe and Tim Vaughn hitting back-to-back three-point shots to make it 47-38 lead and force a timeout from Union.
After the timeout, Lee continued to play very aggressively on the offensive end. McGuirk hit a couple of shots and Smith added another three and the lead was pushed out to over 15 points. Union could not recover and the Flames won 72-55
Haed Coach Bubba Smith was pleased with the defensive effort in the second half. "The last ten minutes of the first half was good. Debuck for union hurt us early but we settled in nicely defensively. The energy carried to the second half. Noah Boler was great on the boards. We saw growth on the defensive end. We challenged them to step it up and they did just that.
You need seniors to play with urgency down the stretch of the season and Mike and Jayce did just that. We will need their leadership as we get ready to head to postseason. The crowd and student section was awesome tonight and we will need them back on Saturday," Smith concluded.
Lee outscored Union 37-24 in the second half and led by as 22 points in the win. Three Flames scored in double figures as Willingham had 17 points, Hendricks had 15, and McGuirk had 14. Lee outrebounded Union 40-32 in the win.
With the win, the Flames locked up a first round game at home to start the Gulf South Conference tournament next Tuesday evening.
The Flames will host Christian Brothers University on Saturday, February 25 at 4 PM as they will celebrate senior day and honor Jayce Willingham and Michael McGuirk before the start of the contest.
