Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- On a historic night inside the Pete Hanna on the campus of Samford University, the Lee University men's basketball came up short to the University of Alabama in Huntsville 115-109 in a five-overtime thriller. It was a game that was the longest in Gulf South Conference history and featured the most point scored in a GSC tournament game.
 
It was a contest where neither team led by more than 10 points and both teams had multiple chances to win the game on buzzer beater shots. It was over forty years ago, that the last semifinal game went to double overtime, and it was the first one to go three plus overtimes. It did just come up short of the NCAA record of seven overtimes.
 
Defenses ruled the first few minutes as neither team got off a good shot. Tim Vaughn finally broke the seal as he made the games first bucket at the 17:30 mark hitting a three. Vaughn made the first seven points for Lee as it was a 7-2 advantage. Beyuan Hendricks and Tariq Daughton each hit three-point shots early as Lee climbed to an early 13-7 lead.
 
The lead grew to nine points as Lee was up 21-12 with 8:30 remaining in the first half. At the point UAH kicked the offense in gear going on a 24-5 run over the next eight minutes. Jack Kostel, Dane Harding and Luke Burnett led the charge for UAH. UAH did not commit their first foul until there was 2:34 left in the half. Lee's first free throw didn't come until the 1:36 mark of the first half. The Chargers led it 36-26 at the halftime break.
 
The Flames came out on a mission in the second with Hendricks scoring seven quick points. He took the deficit down to 39-35 just a couple minutes into the half and forced a timeout from UAH. The Flames continued to push and finally retook the lead at 41-40 with 12 minutes left in regulation. The Flames got it out to six points advantage at 48-42, before the Chargers came right back at tied it at 48. The two teams began trading the lead before Tommy Murr took over for UAH. He hit back-to-back three-point shots and lead led it 61-55 with five minutes left in regulation. The Flames answered back with three's from Daughton and JJ Barnes. With just six seconds left in regulation, Barnes made two free throws to give Lee the 65-62 lead. Murr made yet another three-point shot after he snagged a loose ball and tied it at 65 with three seconds to go. Barnes had a chance to win in at the buzzer, but it rimmed out and regulation ended at 65-65.
 
In the first overtime, only Daughton and Hendricks made shots for the Flames. Daughton made two three-point shots and two free throws. Hendricks hit a three and a jumper with eight seconds left in the first overtime to make it 78-78.
 
Daughton continued his great shooting in the second overtime as he had five more points while Noah Boler-Kyle made a layup and a free throw. Both teams seemed to struggle in the second overtime as neither scored in the last two minutes of the period. Isaac Chatman had a shot to win it at the buzzer for UAH, but it was well short and it was tied at 86-86 going to the third overtime. 
 
The third overtime found both offenses finding some rhythm again. Daughton fouled out of the contest in the 53^rd minute of action, but the Flames kept it going as Willie Walton came in off of the bench and hit a big three. After a couple of free throws from Chatman, Hendricks had another shot to win it at the buzzer but again it rimmed out for the Flames. The game continued tied at 97.
 
The fourth overtime found both offense struggling again as each only had four points. UAH scored the first four points but then did not score for the last 3:18 of the period. Hendricks made a free throw for Lee and then Walton hit a three-point shot with a minute left to tie it at 101. Walton also had a three-point attempt from the corner as the buzzer sounded, but once again the iron was unkind to the Flames as it went halfway down and came back out. The two teams headed to the fifth overtime tied at 101.
 
Lee ran out of steam in the fifth overtime. UAH scored five quick points before Walton hit yet another three-pointer to bring back to 106-104.. However, that is as close as it would get for the Flames as Jack Kostel had 11 points in the period and UAH won the game 115-109.
 
Hendricks had another supurb game as he had a double-double with 31 points and 11 assists. Vaughn also had a double-double with 14 points and a career high 17 rebounds. Daughton also passed his career high ad had 25 points. Walton added 15, while Noah Boler-Kyle scored seven and Josh Lowe had four.
 
Lee was 40-for-99 shooting in the contest and was 18-for-48 from long range. The Flames outrebounded UAH 53-48. Lee had 20 offensive rebounds and 33 defensive rebounds. 
 
The Flames will now wait to see if they will qualify for the NCAA DII National Championship. The selection show will be streamed at 11 PM EST on ncaa.com.