CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Behind a strong defensive performance, the Lee University men's basketball team forced 21 turnovers and defeated Claflin University 81-64 on Tuesday night. Willie Walton tied his career high of 20 points as Lee won their final non-conference game of the season and improved to 3-1 on the year. After the Thanksgiving holidays, the Flames will start conference play at home against the University of Montevallo on Thursday, December 4.
 
The first few minutes was a defensive struggle with almost as many turnovers as points. After the second media timeout, the Flames found a little rhythm on offense. Zach Gray and Willie Walton each made three-point shots to give Lee the lead. Walton hit a trio of long-range buckets and pushed the Lee lead to as many as 11 points.
 
Turnovers were plentiful in the first half as Claflin had 11 while Lee had nine. Walton had 15 points at the break to give Lee the 38-29 lead.
 
The second half started like the first with plenty of turnovers. Claflin scored only two points in the first four minutes, and the Flames did not score at all. After a timeout, Walton and Dayveun Anderson each hit a three-point shot and quickly the lead blossomed to 12 points.
 
Lee never looked back and continued to extend the deficit out and led by as many as 22 points before the 81-64 final.
 
Walton had a career high 20 points in the win and was one rebound away from a double-double. Tylon Chatman had 13 of his 18 points in the second half while Anderson had 13 and Zach Gray had 12.
 
Claflin turned the ball over 21 times and Lee had 20 turnovers. Each team had four blocks and the Flames had 40 rebounds to just 33 for the Panthers.
 
Coach Bubba Smith's Thoughts:
"Proud of the effort. Coming off Saturday's performance the big word for us was compete. We can live with not a perfect game or even losing a game if we are competing. We accomplish that tonight. We had a lot of turnovers, but we also forced a bunch as well and did a lot right."