Tariq Daughton had a season best 22 points to lead the Lee University men’s basketball team to a 65-59 win over Christian Brothers University on Thursday. With the win, and losses from the University of West Florida and Auburn University Montgomery, the Flames clinched a spot in the upcoming Gulf South Conference Tournament.
The final game of the regular season will be on Saturday, March 1. Lee will battle Union University on senior day. The winner of the game will be the seven seed and the loser will be the eight seed.
The first half of the contest between the Flames and CBU was a defensive struggle as both teams hardly took any shots.
Halfway through the first half the score was 12-11 as CBU was held six minutes without a shot. The two teams exchanged the lead nine times with the Flames leading 25-24 at the halftime break.
Daughton was the difference maker to start the second half. He went on a 7-0 run by himself to give Lee an eight-point lead at 32-24. However, CBU responded with their own 7-0 run to climb right back into the contest.
After that, the two teams traded shots tying the game at 38 and then at 49. But then Willie Walton hit back-to-back three point shots and Daughton hit a third to go on a 9-0 run and put the Flames up 62-51 and they never looked back on the way to the 65-49 win.
The Flames made seven shots from long range in the second half and ten on the contest. Lee held CBU to just 32% shooting in the contest.
Tane Kirisome had a game high 26 points for CBU. Daughton had 22 while Walton had 17 and Noah Boler-Kyle had 12.
The Flames will honor Daughton, Boler-Kyle, and Giancarlo Valdez before the start of the contest for senior day on Saturday.