Colorado Christian jumped out to a 25 point lead in the first half and then turned back two serious Lee comebacks in handing the Flames an 88-74 defeat in the semi-final round of the NCCAA National Championship on Thursday afternoon.
The loss ended a seven game winning streak by the Flames and they fall to 18-13 heading into a battle for third place on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. against Emmanuel College. Colorado Christian advances to the championship game and will play at 2 p.m.
on Saturday.
The Flames got off to an extremely slow start in the first 10 minutes and the Cougars came out on fire and with 3:24 remaining in the opening half, held the 25 point lead. Lee fought back and cut the margin 43-26 by halftime and then made a strong run cutting the lead to 10 points and forcing Colorado Christian to call a time out with 15 minutes remaining in the second stanza.
"We came out flat-footed and they were the aggressor," said coach Tommy Brown. "I don't know why we were a step slow and not ready to play. No doubt about it, Colorado Christian had an outstanding team and had several players who could shoot the 3-point shot."
A major difference came at the free-throw line. The Cougars were awarded 33 charity tosses and converted 28. At one point they made 14 straight before finally missing. They also had six different players make shots from behind the arc which coach Brown said made them extremely hard to guard.
Colorado Christian had four players in double-figure scoring. Michael Brown led the way with 26 points. Tyler Shields, who made 10-of-11 free throws, posted 21 points. Ten of his points came from the free- throw line. Zach McLemore added 17 points and converted 9-of-11 freebies. Wayne McCullough rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 markers.
Colorado Christian shot 46 percent from the field and made 10-of-29 shots from behind the arc. They only turned the basketball over 10 times while Lee committed 24 floor mistakes. The Cougars also out-rebounded Lee 28-25.
Lee also featured a balanced scoring attack, placing five players in double figures. Stedmon Ford got hot late and tallied 17. Chad Lee had an outstanding game and knocked four 3-pointers in totaling 16 points, while Cory Billingsley, Chase Cullen and Stephan Burrows each scored 11 points.
The Flames shot a solid 52 percent from the field and made 9-of-18 3-pointers but only converted 9-of-15 free throws.
"I'm really proud of our seniors Chad (Lee) and Cory (Billingsley)," pointed out Brown. "They never allowed our team to quit. Chad has displayed outstanding leadership the entire season. It will be interesting to see how this team comes back from this loss in the consolation game on Saturday."