It took an extra period but the Lee Flames ended the regular basketball season on a thrilling note, defeating rival Shorter University on Saturday evening in Walker Arena, 98-92.
It marked the fifth straight win for coach Tommy Brown's surging Flames and also gave Lee at least one victory over every Gulf South Conference opponent this season. The Flames improved to 16-12 overall and finished 10-12 in GSC play.
"Shorter has developed into one of our biggest rivals in recent years," remarked Brown. "While I have a lot of respect for their program and coach (Chad) Warner is one of my best friends, I certainly don't enjoy losing to them. They always have outstanding talent and it's great to see our players rise up to the occasion and win a contest like this."
The Flames built up a 58-45 lead on a bucket by Elgrin Wilson with 14:27 remaining. It was part of an 18-4 run by Lee to open up the second half. The Hawks would answer right back with a run of their own and cut the lead to 73-71 with 3:57 left.
It appeared the Flames had the victory wrapped up when Jervon Johnson nailed a long 3-pointer to give his team the lead (81-76) with only 1:47 left. Shorter fought back again and after a couple of missed free throws, the Hawks were able to tie the game with regulation time running out (82-82) on a basket by Cole Birchfield.
The five-minute overtime period saw freshman Isaac Merian step up. His first bucket gave the Flames an 85-83 lead and his second score helped Brown's club insure the victory. Down the stretch, senior Cory Billingsley and sophomore Stedmon Ford stepped up to help the Flames celebrate Senior Night.
"What about the play of Isaac?" said Brown with a big smile. "He's been working hard in practice all year and got his opportunity to produce tonight. Of course, he was involved in a lot of big games in high school (Oak Ridge) and that helped him prepare for this moment."
Merian saw more action with Tyquan Roberts out with an ankle injury and Wilson going down with a shoulder injury late in the rugged battle. Merian finished the contest with eight points including a couple of key free throws. Overall, it was a struggle for the Flames at the line the entire evening. They made just 16-of-29 attempts but finished the game by shooting over 55 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range.
The balanced Lee attack saw both Chase Cullen and Cory Billingsley come on strong in the second half, both scored 19 points and Cullen produced a double-double with 10 rebounds. Wilson was 7-of-7 from the field (14 points) and Jervon Johnson continued his marvelous 3-point shooting by canning 4-of-6 long-range bombs. He finished with 14 points.
Stephan Burrows drew praise from coach Brown with a nine-point effort. Ford tossed in eight points and battled hard for nine rebounds. Chad Lee added seven boards as the Flames out-rebounded the Hawks 44-38. However, 14 offensive rebounds helped fuel the Shorter comeback.
Dedric Ware tallied 27 points to pace the balanced Hawk attack. Jordan Jacks produced a double-double, 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kordario Flemming and Chris Daniels had 14 points apiece for the losers. Shorter shot 46 percent from the field but made just 4-of-18 3-point attempts. The Hawks had eight turnovers and Lee turned the basketball over 13 times.
The contest was tied 11 times and saw six lead changes. Shorter outscored the Flames 58-52 in points in the paint and had 15-9 advantage in points off turnovers. Lee fought back by outscoring the Hawks 35-18 in points off the bench.
Lee will take a couple of days and try to get over some injuries before returning to NCCAA Mid-East Region action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. hosting Hiwassee College. "We are all banged up and I hope we can get some players ready for Hiwassee on Wednesday," concluded Brown. "Our reserves have played a key role for this team all season and we will certainly need to take full advantage of that against a good Hiwassee team."
