posted November 24, 2009
Visiting Freed-Hardeman (6-1) outscored the Lee men's basketball team 13-9 in a second five-minute overtime period and left Walker Arena with a 90-86 victory over the Flames on Monday evening.
It has been that type of season for coach Tommy Brown's frustrated young squad. In fact, the first eight games for the 4-4 Flames just might be making college basketball history. Lee lost in two-overtime periods to Tennessee Temple back on Nov. 2. The Flames won over Bryan College in one OT on Nov. 10. Last Thursday night they dropped a triple-overtime nerve wrecker to Shorter College, and then had the two overtime loss to Freed-Hardeman three day later.
Has any basketball team played nine overtime periods in 21 days? That's equal to one complete game!
The Flames fought back from a seven-point deficit to grab a 34-31 halftime lead against the battling Lions, who had lost their to Campbellsville in OT on Saturday. The margin grew to 62-49 with 6:38 remaining and Lee appeared ready to break the contest wide open. However, the team from Henderson, Tenn. had other ideas.
The Lions outscored the Flames 13-1 over the next five minutes, and the 13-point cushion went flying out the window. "It has happened that way too many time," said Brown after the disappointing loss. "We just freeze up, especially on the defensive end of the floor. We worked our guts out in the loss at Shorter and again here tonight. I feel for our guys. We will keep working to get better. We have a lot of new players and we haven't had a lot of practice time together."
Regulation time ended with the heated battle tied at 67. Tyler Cutter made one of two free throws to put the Flames up 67-64. Sharp shooter Ken Bingham stepped up to nail one of his four 3-pointers and tie the contest, sending it into the first OT. He finished the night with 23 points and five rebounds.
In the first extra period, Lee dropped behind by five points with just over 21 second remaining, but Stephen McClellan answered with a huge trey and Larriques Cunningham grabbed a steal and put down a jam to tie the thriller at 77, forcing the second extra period.
The Lions jumped out to a quick four-point lead in the second overtime. The Flames would not die and fought back on scores by Cutter and Cunningham to tie the game at 82. A 3-pointer by Jesse Moulton and a field goal by Bingham with 19 seconds remaining put the game out of reach for Lee.
"We're still learning how to battle through screens," pointed out Brown. "That's what happened on the 3-pointers Bingham and Moulton made. I'm not taking anything away from Freed. They are a really good team. I admit we played poorly at Berry, but for a few critical spots, we played well enough to win against Shorter and Freed. Winning these types of games begins on the defensive end."
While Bingham was leading the attacking Lions, freshman Kyle Teichmann made 7-of-10 shots from the field and finished with 19 points and six rebounds. Big Zack Frey tallied 16 points before leaving with five fouls and Moulton added 15 markers to the balanced scoring.
Jerel Blocker, who went on a scoring run and helped the Flames build the 13-point lead, hit 8-of-16 shots ( four treys) and totaled 21 points. Cunningham was the only other Lee player in double-digit scoring with 16. He also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Matt Stilwell hit two shots from behind the arc and totaled nine points. McClellan and Josh Nofflet added eight points apiece. Lee lost three players, Tedrick Hardy, Desmond Blue and Chad James, to five personal fouls.
The rebounding war was dead even at 46. So were the turnovers (22 Freed, 20 Lee). The Lions hit 45 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc. They converted 22-of-34 free throws. Lee made 39 percent from the field and 31 percent from 3-point range. They made 17-of-23 freebies.
Lee hits the road again on Friday, traveling to Cleveland, Ga. to face Truett-McConnell College. The contest will get underway at 2 p.m. "We'll get some time to practice over the next couple of weeks," noted Brown. After the Truett-McConnell game, Lee will travel to Chattanooga to face Temple on Dec. 3.
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