After having its first three games of the season decided by just nine total points the Lee men's basketball team breathed a little easier on Saturday afternoon as it slammed the Bearcats, 104-61 inside Walker Arena for its first win of the 2018-19 season.
Michael McGuirk poured in a game-high 29 points and nailed six triples to lead the way for the Flames. Ryan Montgomery followed with 14 points and eight rebounds while Cody Jones added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Flames were on-fire from deep hitting 14 of 25 (56 percent) from beyond the arc.
For the game the home team shot a scorching 65 percent (41 of 63) from the field.
"I think we competed at high level for about 35 minutes today. I thought we guarded well and their stuff is not easy to guard because they were running flex and so we were getting hit with screens every possession so it was a great game for us to work on our principles of jump the ball, seeing ball-man, competing and five guys rebounding and I thought we did a pretty good job of doing that for the most part," said head coach Bubba Smith.
Freshmen Quay Kennedy (11) and Drew Jones (10) gave the Flames five-players in double-figures. Drew Jones hit three triples and Kennedy added a pair of his own. Colton Blevins added nine points and four assists while Kentrell Evans pitched in eight points with four assists of his own.
"We had stretch in the opening weekend where Colton didn't touch the ball much so we said, 'Colton's got to touch the ball more' and we did that on Wednesday and Mike only had three shots, so we wanted to get him more touches," added Smith. "I don't think today that was always by design, I think the guys did a good job of finding him and our offense is always better when we create opportunities for each other."
In addition to the hot shooting Lee dominated the glass, out rebounding the Bearcats, 42-23. Brescia had no answer in the post as the Flames held a 44-12 advantage on scoring in the paint.
Jalen Rose knocked in three 3-pointers and led the visitors with 11 points. Tristen Murray followed with 10 points in just 13 minutes of action.
Brescia, a member of the NAIA, was counting the game as an exhibition and currently sit at 3-3.
When asked about the challenge of turning right around on Monday Smith noted, "I think the challenge is more mental than physical with the quick turnaround and that will be good for our guys to be tested early on in the season and have to dig a little deeper so we looked forward to the opportunity."
The Flames (1-3) will play game five of a six-game home stand to start the year on Monday as they host Tusculum College at 7 p.m. After breaking for Thanksgiving Lee returns home to take on King University on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m.