PJay Smith helped lead the Flames to back to back quality Gulf South Conference wins last week over Valdosta State and UAH. He has been named as the conference Freshman of the Week for the second week in a row.
photo by Lee Athletic Communications
For the second straight week Lee men's basketball guard PJay Smith has been named the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week the league office announced on Tuesday.
Smith, a 6-foot native of LaVergne, Tenn. and Goodpasture Christian School product, has made an immediate impact for the Flames.
Smith scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out five assists as the Flames dominated rival Valdosta State last Monday, 87-64. Smith and the Flames would make it two straight over conference rivals with a convincing, 84-70 win over Alabama Huntsville on Saturday as Smith scored eight points on a perfect 3 for 3 shooting from the field.
"After a tough loss to a good UWF team, our guys responded with two quality wins over Valdosta State and UAH. Our bench's production has been a huge part of our team's success. PJay continues to bring our team an offensive spark, but more importantly a defensive mindset and focus that has allowed us to maintain and even stretch leads in these last two outings," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "We are able to give PJay our opponents toughest guard matchup and he has been as good defensively as any player I've coached over the last 22 years."
Smith is averaging 10 points, five rebounds and a steal coming off the bench over the last four games for the Flames. Over that stretch Lee is 3-1.
The Flames are now 7-4 on the year and 3-2 in the GSC. Lee will break for Christmas and return to action on Sunday, Jan. 2 at Auburn Montgomery at 4 p.m.