The seventh-ranked Lee University men’s basketball team responded to its first loss of the season with a 82-72 defeat of SSAC East Division foe Southern Wesleyan University.

The Flames carry a 14-1 record (6-1 SSAC) into Saturday where they will put an end to a streak of four consecutive road games by hosting the College of Coastal Georgia. Lee hasn’t played at home since taking down Oakwood University, 89-68, on December 6.

Saturday has been dubbed “Family Day.” For $10 a family of four will gain admission to both Lee games, along with pizza and drinks.

Thursday night belonged to Jamorris Gaines. In his third appearance of the season, Gaines hit 10-of-15 shots, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, to score a game-high 28 points to go with seven rebounds.

“I’m glad he (Gaines) got through (the eligibility process),” said Lee head coach Tommy Brown. “I told you he was a good player.”

Chase Dunn added 16 markers after shooting 5-for-8 from the field. Will Barnes was 6-for-14 and finished with 15 points.

Muniru Bawa was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor and 1-for-1 at the charity stripe to tally seven points.

Corey Billingsley was 4-for-4 at the line on his way to six markers, while Chad Lee tossed in five to go with five boards. Patrick Shaughnessy added three points and Kymon Woods contributed two more for the cause.

Southern Wesleyan (6-7, 2-5 SSAC) placed four players in double-digit scoring. Rochard Gibson had a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds.

Terrance Hutchins added 18 points and six boards in the loss. Rounding out the double-digit scorers were Kenny Holmes and Alex Percival with 11 and 10, respectively.

Lee hit 57 percent (28-for-49) of their shots, 53 percent (9-for-17) from three-point territory and 89 percent (17-for-19) from the foul line.

The Flames led by 16 with five minutes left in the opening half and held a 37-27 halftime lead. Southern Wesleyan cut the deficit to four twice in the final four minutes before Lee went on an 8-0 run to go up 82-70 with 20 seconds to go. SWU added a basket at the eight second mark to put a cap on the scoring.

“They (SWU) did a good job,” said Brown. “They didn’t go away and were hard to rebound against in the second half.”

SWU hit the same number of shots (28-for-63) as the Flames, but were successful on just 31 percent (4-for-13) of their three-point attempts. The Warriors made 12-of-18 (67 percent) tosses at the charity stripe.

Coach Brown made sure to acknowledge the attendance of several Lee alumni. “We had an alumni gathering here today. I’m telling you, we had about 50 people here. We appreciate it.”