NC Tennessee News

The Lee University men's basketball team used a strong second half from the free throw line to hold on and defeat Valdosta State 90-80 on Saturday afternoon to improve their record to 12-3 overall and 11-3 in Gulf South Conference play. After only shooting two free throws in the first half, Lee was 22-for-24 from the line in the second half. Four Flames scored in double figures with PJay Smith leading the way with a career high 24 points. He also had a career high in rebounds with 14 to record a double-double.
 
The Blazers scored the first three points of the game before Lee answered on 6-0 run. The two teams traded buckets before Jayce Willingham and Beyuan Hendricks led the Flames on another 7-0 run to give Lee a 13-7 lead and forced a timeout from Valdosta State. Lee continued to push and stretch the lead out to 21-12 in the first half thanks to another three from Hendricks.
 
Valdosta started to chip away at the deficit as Jay Rucker scored six straight points for VSU and it was a 30-29 lead for Lee with four minutes left in the first half. The Blazers started feeding the post players and forced some fouls from Lee. They converted their free throws to retake a 32-30 lead. The Flames then answered with a two-handed dunk from Michael McGuirk. The two teams traded buckets the last two minutes and the Flames led at the halftime break 38-36.
 
The Flames hit a couple of early three-point shots to extend the lead to 49-41 before VSU answered and made it 49-44. Lee turned up the defensive pressure with a block from Noah Boler and then a steal from PJay Smith led to a five-point run from the Flames and gave Lee a 54-44 lead with 14 minutes left in the contest. VSU chipped away slowly at the lead and brought it toa 60-58 game before Willingham hit a three-point shot to make it 63-58 game with 7:30 left in the contest. Boler then blocked back-to-back shots on Valdosta State but the Blazers were still able to earn two points on consecutive trips to make it 65-60. Smith then hit a three for the Flames and then Willingham hit a three and was fouled. He hit the free throw for the four-point play. McGuirk added two free throws to give the Flames their largest lead of the game at 74-62 with 4:30 left in the game.
 
Valdosta hot a couple of three to cut it back to a six point deficit but Smith hit six free throws to keep Lee out in front. VSU tried to keep it close but the Flames made 12 free throws in the last 1:15 of the contest to hold on and win 90-80. 
 
Coach Bubba Smith was very pleased with the second half effort form his squad. "We talked about it at the half. If we don't be more aggressive, we won't be able to win. The guys answered and did just this that. Tariq Daughton changed the game. His offense and defense were a game changer. PJay was great and all over the floor. We were a little sloppy, but we kept pushing them. I was proud of the rebound margin and flipping three free throws in our favor in the second half. You have to win your home games. We couldn't pull away until the end. VSU is a great shooting team, but we defended the three point shot very well."
 
McGuirk had a season high 16 points while Willingham added 18 and Hendricks had 14. The Flames shot 47.5% from the floor and 92% from the free throw line in the win.
 
The Flames will head on the road next Saturday as they will head to the University of Montevallo. Lee will take on the Falcons on Saturday, January 21 at 5 PM. 

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