Jayce Willingham
The Lee University men’s basketball team staged a massive comeback to beat the University of Montevallo in overtime 86-82 on Saturday afternoon. The Flame trailed by as many as 20 points in the second before staging the comeback. Lee had a shot to win the game in overtime, but PJay Smith’s attempt rimmed out. In overtime Lee jumped out on a 6-0 run to take the lead and never looked back. Jayce Willingham led the Flames with 25 points surpassing the 1000 point mark in his career.
The Falcons came out firing with a couple of layups and took an early 7-0 lead.
PJay Smith hit a layup but then Montevallo answered with another 4-0 run to take a 11-2 lead at the first media timeout. Lee was held scoreless for over three and half minutes before Michael McGuirk hit a three-point shot. Montevallo answered right back and scored a bucket and was fouled to make it a 16-5 lead for the Falcons.
The Falcons continued to press and pushed the lead to 23-11. However, the Flames used a dunk by Jayce Willingham and Makhi McGuire cut the lead down to seven and forced a timeout from Montevallo. Teams traded buckets and the Flames cut the lead down to five with two minutes to go in the half but couldn’t get any closer as the Flames trailed at the break 35-28.
Montevallo started the second half very quickly took the lead back out to 43-31. McGuire was fouled taking a three-point shot but only made one free throw. The Falcons’ Aiden Shifflet then hit back-to-back off balance three pointers to make it a 16 point lead for Montevallo at 50-34 with 16 minutes left in the game. UM pushed the lead to 54-34 before Willinghamhit a three and was fouled. He hit the free throw to complete the four point play. Beyuan Hendricks then scored five straight points for the Flames to cut it down to 56-43.
Lee turned up the defensive intensity and forced a couple of turnovers. Hendricks continued to hit three point shots and cut the lead down to 65-59 with 7:45 left in the game and forced another timeout from Montevallo. After the timeout, Braxton Bertolette was called for a flop and Smith made the free throw to make it 65-60. After that both teams went cold until Smith hit another three to make a four point game at 67-63. Montevallo answered with a layup and with three minutes left in the game the Falcons led 69-63.
Noah Boler and Tariq Daughton each made two free throws and made the score 72-69 with 47 seconds left in the contest. Montevallo turned the ball over and Smith hit a three to tie the game at 72. The Flames fouled Bertolette. The best free throw shooter in the conference missed the front end of an one-and-one and Lee secured the rebound. Smith had a shot to win it as the clock expired in regulation but the shot rimmed out and the game went to overtime
Lee won the tip in overtime. McGuirk was fouled on a shot. He hit both free throws and gave Lee the lead 74-72 with 4:41 giving them their first lead of the contest. Boler added a free throw and Willingham hit a three point shot to give Lee a 78-72 lead in the extra period. Montevallo made a three to cut the lead down to 78-75 and then Boler slammed a rebound home and the Flames made their free throws down the stretch to keep the lead and give Lee the win 86-82.
Head Coach Bubba Smith knew it was a hard fought win. “It’s a huge win. It took a while to get engaged and get in gear. You don’t win many games down by 20 unless your team is doing something right. I was disappointed with how we started giving the Falcons some confidence but proud of how we fought and battled in the end. We will learn a lot from this and got to get better. We can’t get in holes like this and expect to win. We need to have a bigger sense of urgency from the tip. Excited for Jayce getting over the 1000 point mark for his career. We have a lot to be thankful for. We fought hard all day and the guys made the plays.”
Lee was 22-for-31 from the free throw line and were 14-for-40 from the three point arc in the win. Willingham led the Flames with 25 points while Smith had 18 and Hendricks had 13.
The Flames will return home and host West Alabama on Thursday, January 26 at 8 PM at Walker Arena.