CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A stellar second half led the Lee University men's basketball team past Trevecca Nazarene University 72-68 on Saturday afternoon to stop a two-game losing streak for the Flames. After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, the Flames rallied and outscored TNU by seven points in the second half to improve their record to 11-11 on the season.
In the first half, Trevecca had two runs that pushed them out in front. At one point over a four-minute span, they held Lee scoreless and went on an 11-0 run ion the process. After that the Flames began to chip away at the lead. Behind the play of Jamarcus Wilkins, lee trimmed the deficit to just 35-33 at halftime.
The Flames came out strong defensively to start the second half. It took almost five full minutes before Trevecca even scored and by that point Lee had started the period on a 7-0 run. After that point, the Flames never trailed again. There were several ties, but Lee never surrendered the lead.
Jax Abernathy kept it close scoring 27 points and shooting 12-for-12 from the free throw line, to keep Trevecca right around the two-point deficit mark. But it was timely three-point shots from Tylon Chatman and Ben Ritger they had an answer every time. The Flames made four of their six three-point shots in the second half.
Trevecca hung around and made it 67-66 with just 1:12 left in the contest. After a Lee, timeout, the Flames found Tim Vaughn wide open underneath who threw it down with a two-handed dunk to make it 69-66. On the other end Abernathy made two more free throws for the Trojans and Lee led it 69-68.
Chatman missed a three with 45 seconds left. Trevecca went down the court and Fred Bailey tried to make a layup, but he was blocked by Vaughn. Bailey got his own rebound and tried again and was blocked again by Vaugn. Bailey got a third opportunity and missed, and Vaughn pulled the rebound down. He was fouled and made both free throws to give Lee the 71-68 lead.
After a Trevecca timeout, they had a wide open three to tie the game, but Brett Wright missed and Vaughn got the rebound. He made one free throw and that ended the game at 72-68.
Lee was led by Chatman with 17 points, Wilkins had 16 points, and Ritger had 15. Vaughn led the game with 11 rebounds and Dayveun Anderson had seven assists.
Lee was only 10-of-17 from the free throw line while TNU was 17-of-18.
The Flames will continue the three game home stand when they take on Delta State University on Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 PM.
Coach Bubba Smith's Thoughts:
"Really proud of our guys. We have been in a lot of close games this season. We have been on the other side of them. We kept challenging our team that with four games left to value the basketball and get stops defensively. We did that tonight and every guy that stepped on the floor contributed.
