The Lee University men's basketball team scored the first four points of the game and never trailed as the Flames defeated the University of West Florida 85-67 on Saturday evening. It was the first win of the season for Lee as they improved their record to 1-1 on the season and 1-1 in Gulf South Conference play.
The Flames made their first five shots of the game capped off by a one-handed dunk by Jayce Willingham. Lee then hit back-to-back three-point shots. They forced UWF to take a timeout down 16-5 with just four minutes evaporated in the first half.
Lee pushed the lead in the first half to 18 points at 27-8 before UWF started chipping away. The Argos went on a 12-7 run before PJay Smith hit a three pointer to make it 38-21 with five minutes left in the first half.
The Flames continued to make shots and pushed the lead to a 52-26 lead at the halftime break. The second half starting with teams trading buckets. Noah Boler and Tariq Daughton chipped in several points as the Flames extended the lead to 58-30 with 17 minutes left in the contest. The Argos slowly cut the score down, but it wasn't enough as the Flames held on to win 85-67
Ten different Lee players scored on the night as the team shot 53% on the evening. Willingham led all scorers 21 points. Smith had a very efficient night as well scoring seven points, securing ten rebounds, and dishing out seven assists. Beyuan Hendricks had another solid night as he added 15 points. The Flames out rebounded the Argos 33-29 and had 23 assists on the night. UWF shot 19 free throws making 16 to the Flames only attempting eight.
Head Coach Bubba Smith was pleased with the effort in the win. "I was proud of how our guys responded tonight. That was more of what our team is capable of. We have obviously shot it well through the first couple games, but we needed to see our team respond with a defensive effort worthy of winning. Now we get a few days off for Thanksgiving and return for our GSC home opener against Montevallo."
The Flames will have a week off before returning home to host the University of Montevallo on Monday, November 28 at 8 PM at Walker Arena.
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