Lee Splits With West Alabama

  • Thursday, February 11, 2016

 Making key shots and defensive stops in the final 3.50 minutes, the Lee men's basketball team moved to within one game of an important eighth spot in the Gulf South Conference standings with a grinding 66-64 victory over the University of West Alabama on Thursday evening in Walker Arena. 

The top eight finishers in the GSC standings earn a spot in the upcoming conference tournament.

While the Flames were winning over the Tigers, Shorter University was falling to West Georgia. Lee's win and Shorter's defeat pushed the Flames into a tie for ninth place, both teams with a 6-12 league mark. West Alabama remains one game in front of the Flames but travels to Rome to face Shorter on Saturday.

Lee went on top of the visitors 62-58 on a bucket by Keevin Tyus at the 1:10 mark. The Tigers trimmed the lead to 62-60 with 1:02 remaining, but Levi Woods was fouled with 24 seconds remaining and nailed two key free throws to put the Flames up 64-60. However, the Tigers fought back with a 3-point bucket by Acie Vance to trim the lead to only one. Tyus and Woods added a free throw apiece to help seal the hard-earned victory.

Tyus scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. He also paced Lee in rebounding with eight. Woods followed with 11 markers and five boards, while Chase Cullen and Rantavious Gilbert gave Lee four players in double-digit scoring with 10 points apiece. Stephan Burrows found a way to score six points in the win. He came up with three assists and four rebounds. Gilbert continued to intimidate the opponents with four blocked shots and remained in a tie with Dakari Mayo of West Alabama for top shot-blocking honors in Division II. Mayo also had four blocks and both have 78 blocks on the year. 

Vance paced the Tigers scoring with 16 points and Simeon Dennis finished with 14 points before leaving the game with five fouls. Lee's defense held the Tigers to only 38 percent shooting from the floor. However, the West Alabama squad did knock 7-of-18 treys and converted 11-of-14 free throws. 

Lee's outstanding shooting continued with Tyus hitting 9-of-12 field goal attempts. The Flames shot 46 percent from the floor. They attempted only nine triples and made four, going to the line 18 times and sinking 12. The Tigers won the furious battle of the boards 37-35. Lee committed 11 floor mistakes and the Tigers nine in a clean but bruising battle. 

"I was proud of the way our guys reacted against a very good West Alabama defense tonight," commented coach Tommy Brown as the Flames claimed their second straight home victory and have now won four and lost four over their last eight games. "Keevin was really good in the second half and Rantavious is showing a lot more patience. Our guys rebounded from their worst showing of the year at West Alabama to win tonight."

"We will face an entirely different style of basketball team on Saturday," added Brown. "West Georgia likes to get up and down the floor and score the basketball. We've had really good crowds in recent games and I hope we will have the same type of support on Saturday." The doubleheader which is being billed as "Ballin' Love" will begin at 2 p.m.

 

West Alabama used clutch free throws down the stretch to hold off the Lee Lady Flames and claim a 78-71 victory.

Erin Walsh led the comeback attempt for the Lady Flames and finished with a game-high 28 points on 8 of 20 shooting from the field. The sophomore guard canned three treys and was a perfect 9 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Shelby Brown added 16 points and nine rebounds while freshman point guard Haris Price chipped in 15 points and dished off five assists.

Ariel Wilson paced the Tigers with 16 points and four assists. Sydney King scored 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from 3-point distance. Catherine Taylor added 14 points while Chloe Culpepper rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 markers and eight boards.

West Alabama did most of its damage from behind the arc hitting 9 of 12. Lee hit 7 of 24 from downtown and finished shooting 39.7 percent from the field in the contest. The Tigers shot at a 45.9 percent clip.

"We have to play harder and with more purpose," said head coach Marty Rowe after Thursday's setback to the Tigers. "The better team won tonight, records may not indicate it but they played harder and communicated better than we did."

It appeared as if the Lady Flames were set to repeat the first meeting between the two clubs as they raced out to an 18-11 lead after the first period. Lee claimed a 79-42 victory back in Livingston on Jan. 4. 

This time the narrative would be different however as the Tigers battled back outscoring the Lady Flames 67-53 in the final three periods.

West Alabama held a slight 36-35 advantage on the glass while Lee held a 28-24 edge on points in the paint. The Tigers pesky defense swiped six steals and recorded 11 blocks to help pull the upset victory on the road.

"We are not the type of team we were a couple of weeks ago and other teams are getting better," added Rowe. "That's the great part about our league every night presents a challenge. We really need to find some people who are going to step up and take on a leadership role and take ownership on the court."

Lee falls to 16-7 overall and are now 13-5 in the Gulf South Conference. West Alabama improves to 8-14 on the year and 5-13 in league play.  The Tigers get their first victory over the Lady Flames after dropping the previous five meetings.

The Lady Flames are 6-0 this season following losses and they will look to continue that streak on Saturday afternoon as they host West Georgia at 2 p.m.

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