A long and winding five-game road trip through three different states finally came to end on Saturday afternoon for the Lee University Flames as they fell to Christian Brothers University by a 76-55 margin.
The two clubs seesawed back and forth for much of the opening half until the Bucs closed the final 7:30 of play on a 26-12 run to help open up a 43-27 lead at the break. Bucs’ senior Trey Casey capped off the run with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Last year’s GSC player of the year, Casey led the way for Christian Brothers tallying 23 points while hitting 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
The Flames opened the second half on a 7-0 run and held the Bucs scoreless for the first five minutes of play before a Ryan Fleming 3-pointer and a Casey jumper helped settle the home team down. Fleming finished with 11 points and four assists.
“We didn’t do a real good job defensively on this road trip,” said head coach Tommy Brown. “Turnovers again were a factor, especially when we were trying to make the run in the second half.
Lee committed 18 floor mistakes leading to 31 points for the Bucs. The Flames turned the home team over 13 times en route to 14 points.
Lee shot 38.8 percent from the field while the Bucs were hitting at a 54.7 clip. CBU did a lot of its damage from the 3-point line as they hit 10-of-20 while Lee cashed in just five of its 18 attempts.
Chase Cullen was a bright spot for the Flames tying a career-high in points with 20 on 7-of-10 shooting. The sophomore also pulled down eight boards. Freshman Levi Woods matched his best offensive output of the year as well with nine points.
“Chase played really well and gave us a lot of effort tonight,” added Brown. “This Christian Brothers team can beat anybody in the league and they were really smart with shot selection tonight. Hopefully we can get back home and figure some things out.”
The loss drops the Flames to an even 9-9 overall and 4-9 in the GSC. The win propels CBU to 9-8 on the year and 6-7 in league play.
Lee will look to get back in the win column on Thursday when it comes home for the first time since Jan. 5. The Flames will battle West Florida at 8 p.m.