NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A spine-tingling dunk by Tim Vaughn with only 11 seconds remaining broke a 67-67 tie and gave the Lee men's basketball team a huge 69-67 win over host Trevecca Nazarene inside the Trojan Fieldhouse on Saturday evening. The needed win improved the Flames to 6-12 in the important GSC conference standings and 10-12 overall. The Trojans fell to 11-7 and 16-8.
The battle saw Trevecca leading 36-34 at halftime. In the second stanza the contest was tied seven times and 11 times overall. Tylon Chatman made big shot after big shot to keep the Flames in the heat of the action. He finished with a career high 23 points, making 9-of-18 shots from the field and canning 5-of-10 3-pointers.
Vaughn finished with a double-double, 12 points and 12 rebounds in one of his top performances of the season. Noah Boler-Kyle also hit some key buckets and was 5-of-7 in shots made from the field. Overall, Lee made 28-of-63 field goal attempts (44%) and was even better from long range, 10-of-22 (46%). The Flames were awarded only five charity tosses and made three. They scored 32 points in the paint to 18 for the Trojans.
Former Lee player Jalen Page finished with 22 points, but a key factor in the win was the Lee defense holding one of the GSC's leading scorers to only four points in the second half. Jikari Johnson also had 22 points in the loss while Mateo Esmeraldo nailed a pair of free throws to tie the game at 67 and finished the contest with 11 points.
The Trojans made 19-of-53 shots from the field (36%) and converted just 8-of-29 triples (28%). They kept the contest close by marching to the charity stripe 25 times and canning 21. Lee forced 18 Trevecca turnovers and committed 14 floor mistakes. The Flames dished off 14 assists to 12 for the losers.
The road continues to be tough for Lee. They will travel to Cleveland, Miss. on Thursday and face Delta State in another key GSC contest slated for an 8:30 tip. The adventures continue on Saturday when they move onto Clinton, Miss. and face Mississippi College at 5 p.m.
