Getting plenty of balance from up and down the lineup and knocking down 12-of-21 3-point attempts, the Lee men’s basketball team opened its portion of Gulf South Conference play with a convincing 86-70 victory over previously unbeaten Shorter University.
Spurred on by an excellent Saturday evening crowd, the Flames led 39-28 at the halftime break and built an 18-point lead with 12:49 remaining. The Hawks, with the help of free throws, cut the margin to 10 points on a couple of occasions down the stretch, but the Flames pulled away to improve their record to 4-2 overall.
Coach Bubba Smith noted that his team had an excellent week of practice and he felt good about his club coming into Saturday evening’s game.
“The guys have worked hard and together. I was pleased with our preparation.”
Sophomore Isaac Merian came off the bench to make 4-of-4 shots from behind the arc and helped spark the victory. He finished the contest with 16 points. “Isaac loves shooting the 3-pointer from the corner,” said Coach Smith. “He gave us a big lift this evening.”
Rico Overall was 6-of-6 from the charity stripe and paced the Lee balanced attack with 19 points. He also had four rebounds and three assists as the Flames finished with 16 assists compared to just 11 turnovers. Keevin Tyus followed with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Senior Cody Farley gave Lee a lift with 2-of-2 shots from 3-point range and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Jervon Johnson nailed three treys and tallied 13 points to go along with five rebounds. The Flames lost the battle of the boards 35-34.
While the Flames shot 58 percent from behind the arc, they finished the contest with 49 percent shooting from the field (30-of-61). They went to the line 20 times and converted 14 (70 percent).
Shorter All-American Phil Taylor was the game’s leading scorer with 32 points. He marched to the free-throw line 19 times and converted 13. He also was 5-of-9 from 3-point range. “Overall, I thought we did a fairly good job of containing Taylor,” said Smith. “We fouled him too often but he has a knack of drawing fouls and he usually hits a higher percentage than he did this evening.”
Aliah Bennett was the only other Hawk in double-figure scoring. He finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Eric Ross was the game’s leading rebounder with 10. Shorter shot 40 percent from the field but only 30 percent from behind the arc (7-of-23).
Lee will face another Division II opponent on Tuesday when they step outside the GSC to play host to North Georgia, a team from the Peach Belt Conference. The action is slated for an 8 p.m. tip.
PHOTO ID: Levi Woods goes to the floor to save a loose ball in Lee's victory over previously unbeaten Shorter University