CLINTON, Miss. –In a tale of two halves, the Lee University Flames were outscored by 18 in the second half and fell to Mississippi College 76-70 on Tuesday evening. The Choctaws of MC used an 11-0 run over the last five minutes of the contest to complete the comeback and give Lee their second loss of the season (8-2, 6-2).
 
Lee led by 12 at halftime and as many as 13 points late in the second half but went ice cold shooting in the last few minutes and could not hold off Rashad Bolden who had a career night with 35 points.
 
The Flames hit their first five shots of the contest with Tim Vaughn making back-to-back three-point shots and made seven of the first 15 points for Lee. The Flames defense also held MC scoreless for three and half minutes early in the contest which allowed the lead to jump out toe a 20-10 lead.
 
Throughout the first half, the Flames continued to shoot well from long range. They made their first six three-point shot attempts. At the break, five different players made a shot from long range and Lee was 10-for-13. Meanwhile on the defensive end the Flames held the Choctaws to 3-of-10 shooting from the three-point arc in the first half and Lee held a 48-36 lead at the break.
 
Mississippi College came out strong to start the second half. They attacked the paint and got to the free throw line to help cut into the deficit. MC made it 56-51 before freshmen Zach Gray and Jamarcus Wilkins helped push the lead out to 60-52 with 12 minutes left in the game.
 
Lee pushed the lead back out to 13 points at 67-54 before MC went on a 11-0 run to make it a 67-65 game with five minutes left. Then Tim Vaughn made a layup and a free throw to go back up by five at 70-65. However, the Choctaws forced the Flames to go on a three-minute scoring drought and took their first lead at 71-70 with 1:50 to go in the contest. They made their free throws and won the contest 76-70.
 
After a strong first half of shooting, Lee was 1-for-10 from long range in the second half and only 9-for-27 from the field. MC got to the free throw line 26 times and made 22 shots while Lee was 7-for-10 from charity.
 
Four Flames scored in double figures led by Beyuan Hendricks who had 17. Vaughn added 16 while Noah Boler-Kyle had 11 and JJ Barnes had 10.
 
Lee will head to north to face Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi on Thursday.
 
Coach Bubba Smith's Thoughts:

"Give credit to MC. They made tougher plays than we did down the stretch and got to the Free Throw line. 

"We let two guys beat us and I have to do a better job of making adjustments and throwing different looks at them, especially Bolden."

"We had a time with 10 minutes to go to extend our lead and put the game away, but came up empty on three or four possessions in transition."

"We need a quick turnaround and need to bounce back against an unbeaten team at home in Delta State."