FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – It is always tough to beat a good team three times in the same season and that is exactly what happened to the Lee men's basketball team on Saturday evening in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament being hosted by undefeated Nova Southeastern University.
The Flames beat West Georgia twice during the regular season, winning 80-63 on Jan. 2nd. Lee traveled to Carrollton and scored a thrilling come from behind 76-71 victory over the Wolves on Feb. 18. The Flames fell behind early in Saturday's meeting, trailing 33-27 at the half and never led in the 74-61 defeat.
The opening round loss ended the successful Lee season at 20-8 while West Georgia advances with a 21-9 mark. Alabama Huntsville, another member of the GSC, moved on with an earlier Saturday victory.
"I am really proud of this group and what they have accomplished. It is never easy to end the season and you want to play better in these moments, but these guys have a lot to be proud of," said Lee Coach Bubba Smith.
"I am so thankful for seniors Mike (McGuirk) and Jayce (Willingham) and what they have meant to our program. They have led our program to three NCAA tournaments over the last four years, and have done it the right way. They have set a great example for our younger players and I am so grateful for them."
West Georgia seemed to be ready to take complete control midway of the second half before Lee cut the lead to 54-47 on a 3-point shot by Beyuan Hendricks. However, the Wolves came back with two straight triples of their own to increase the lead to 62-49 and the Flames, despite applying serious pressure, were never able to overtake the West Georgia lead.
Four Wolves led the scoring attack. Cameron Donatlan led the way with a 20-point performance. He was 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from the arc. Donatlan also had a team-high eight rebounds. Overall, West Georgia shot 48% from the field (26-of-54). The Wolves hit 8-of-22 triples (36%) and made 14-of-19 free throws. Zawdie Jackson tallied 18 points. Jalen Sasser followed with 14 and Kolten Griffin added 11 points to round out the double-digit scores.
The Flames fought back with 19 points from PJay Smith. PJay was 7-of-16 overall shooting and 5-of-10 from deep. Hendricks totaled 16 points and added a pair of 3-pointers. He was 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. In fact, the Flames only shot six free throws the entire game and made five. Willingham completed the double-digit scorers. He had 17 points, also making 6-of-14 shots and 3-of-7 triples. Jayce was 2-of-2 when awarded freebies.
Overall, Lee shot 40% for the game, making 23-of-48 attempts. They fired 29 3-pointers and canned 10 (35%) and as noted earlier made 5-of-6 freebies. Smith and McGuirk had five rebounds as the Flames were outrebounded by the Wolves 35-32.
