For the second game in a row, Lee University guard Tariq Daughton hit a buzzer beating shot. This time it was a three-point shot to beat the top team in the Gulf South Conference. Daughton’s shot banked in as the Flames defeated the University of West Georgia 58-57 on Wednesday night in Walker Arena.
It was a game that had the Wolves lead for 29 minutes and led by 12 at halftime. However, the Flames mounted a strong second half comeback to earn the win to improve to 19-6 overall and 16-6 in GSC action. UWG fell to 21-4 and 17-4 in GSC action but remained in first place just one and half games ahead of Lee who is in second place.
It was another slow start for both teams as it took Lee two and half minutes to score and UWG needed over five minutes to get their first points. Lee did not shoot well at all from long range and was 0-for-8 in the first half. In fact, Lee only hit two shots from the three-point arc all contest and one of them was the game winner.
The Flames did not hit a field goal the last eight minutes of the first half but managed to make a few free throws to just be down 29-17 at the break. The second half was a different story. The Flames were much more aggressive in attacking the paint and got to the free throw line. Lee was 13-for-15 in the second half after going 3-for-4 in the first half at the charity stripe.
UWG’s Zawadie Jackson made a shot and a free throw to give UWG a 55-51 lead with 5:27 left on the clock. The Wolves would only earn two more points the rest of the game. With 3:32 left in the contest, Tim Vaughn hit a layup and was fouled to make it 57-54. Beyuan Hendricks would hit one more free throw to pull the Flames within two at 57-55 with 1:29 left.
Turnovers from both team in the last 90 seconds would eventually lead to the Wolves’ Cole Fisher taking a free throw with nine seconds left. He would miss the front end of the one-and-one free throw. JJ Barnes grabbed the rebound drove to the front court and found Daughton who took the shot as time expired to give Lee the win. The miss by Fisher was the only free throw missed by the Wolves in the entire game.
Lee never led by more than four points in the win. They outscored the Wolves 41-28 in the second half.
Lee will be back in action on February 29 at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
Coach Bubba Smith’s Thoughts:
“Feels great to be on the winning end of it after losing on Saturday. Happy for our guys. Proud of how we competed tonight. Tariq has a knack for big shots. That was his third buzzer beater since he got here.”
“It was a tale of two halves. We struggled in the first half and made some adjustments. This was the top two defensive teams in the league and we were very locked in tonight and it carried us.”
“West Georgia is a really good defensive team and if we called a timeout it may have let them adjust their defense in the last few seconds. You have to trust your guards and JJ came up big finding Tariq.”