Thanks to a 22-0 run early in the opening half, the Lee Flames allowed coach Tommy Brown to relax for one of the few times this season and at the same time improve to 17-1 overall and 8-1 in SSAC play.
"I wished they were all like that," said Brown after the Fames blew past visiting Brewton-Parker College, 80-38,on Saturday afternoon in Walker Arena. "I enjoyed watching the game and getting the opportunity to allow our younger guys a chance to play good minutes.”
Brown used all 13 players that were dressed.
No player saw more than 26 minutes and every Flame saw over six minutes of playing time. With a pair of road games coming up next week at Truett-McConnell and Southern Poly, the extra rest could benefit the regulars.
It was a 5-5 contest when the sizzling-hot Flames blew the Barons away with the 22-0 run. By halftime the margin grew to 41-14 and Brown's unit did not take its foot off the gas in the second 20 minutes.
Brown, who was disappointed with his team's defensive play in the win at Temple on Monday, said his club worked on defense in practice over the past four days. "I think it showed. We got the job done today," he noted. "Brewton-Parker is not a bad basketball team. We just got after them. We are a pretty good team when we play with that type of intensity."
Will Barnes paced the balanced Lee scoring attack with 17 points. He was 8-of-10 from the field and the Flames shot 56 percent (33-of-59) as a team. Corey Billingsley tallied 12 points. He joined Barnes with five rebounds. All totaled the Flames won the battle of the boards, 46-23.
Steve Bennett and Jamorris Gaines followed with nine points apiece. Bennett collected seven boards in joining with Chad Lee to pace the Flames in that department. Chase Dunn nailed a pair of 3-pointers and totaled eight markers. Lee added seven points and Logan Ramsey came off the bench to knock down a trey and total five points. All totaled 10 Lee players put points in the book.
The Flames held the Barons to only 25 percent shooting from the field and just 18 percent (2-of-11) from behind the arc. Jermaine Jackson was the only BPC -player in double-figure scoring. He tallied 11. Lee's defense held the Barons' leading scorers, Paul Hagler and Darrie Stephens to only six points.
The Flames had 18 assists compared to 15 turnovers. BPC had three assists and turned the basketball over 15 times.