Lee outscored the University of North Georgia 19-14 in an overtime period to capture a 95-90 victory over the visitors from the Peach Belt Conference on Tuesday evening in Walker Arena. The win improved the Flames’ record to 5-2 overall and the Nighthawks slipped to 3-5.
Regulation play ended with the nail-biter deadlocked at 76. In the extra five minutes, Levi Woods gave Lee a 79-76 lead with a free throw and a layup. The Nighthawks bounced right back to deadlock the battle on a 3-pointer by Ebo Smith, but Keevin Tyus quickly put Lee back on top 81-79.
North Georgia was not about to go away without a fight and tied the game again at 81.
Freshman Ryan Montgomery tipped in a missed shot and the Flames were back up by two points only to see Smith strike again with another 3-pointer to put his club up 84-83.
Senior Rico Overall stepped up to put Lee over the hump with a jumper in the paint and a 3-point bucket from 28-feet away. The Flames appeared to be in good shape with a 91-85 advantage but the Knighthawks rallied back again on a pair of free throws by Shaquan Cantrell. Things looked even better for the home squad when senior Jervon Johnson slammed home a dunk and putting the Flames 93-87.
On the other end, Lee committed an unpardonable foul behind the 3-point arc and Denzell Hosch knocked all three freebies to cut the lead to 93-90. Finally, Woods sank 1-of-2 charity tosses to ensure the victory.
“Sometimes you win and you don’t feel like you played well enough to win,” said Lee coach Bubba Smith. “I thought that was the case tonight but I’m really proud of the way we battled through some things to come out on top in the end.”
Smith admitted that he was worried about Tuesday’s contest after coming off the big win over Shorter last Saturday. “We came out a little slow early and in that first half we made some uncharacteristic mistakes. We did a better job in the second half of executing and we wanted to get the ball to Keevin (Tyus) early in the shot clock and let him have some room to operate. I’m happy with the win but definitely not content.”
The Flames placed six players in double-digit scoring. Overall led the way with 22 points and four assists. Tyus followed with a double-double, 19 points and 12 rebounds. Montgomery was 3-of-3 from behind the arc and had 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. Johnson and Cody Farley followed with 12 markers apiece, while Woods had nine points and three assists.
Lee, as it has done in recent games, shot the ball well, 51 percent from the field and a solid 11-of-22, 50 percent from 3-point range. The Flames struggled at the line, converting just 11-of-22 and were guilty of 23 floor mistakes, much to the dismay of Coach Smith. The Flames out-rebounded the Nighthawks 45-32.
North Georgia also featured a balanced attack. Cantrell was the leader with 20 points and Smith followed closely with 17. The Nighthawks shot 43 percent from the field and were also good from behind the 3-point line, sinking 10-of-22 (46 percent).
The Flames will have nine days off before returning to Walker Arena one week from Thursday and hosting Mississippi College. “The time off will be good for us. We got some guys banged up a little bit tonight so we’ll try and get healthy,” the coach noted. “Hopefully, we will get Bryce Copeland back soon. We will enjoy the time to rest but we will also have plenty of time on the floor in practice to clean some things up.”