Despite a furious second half comeback the Lee men’s basketball team came up just short in Friday’s season opener, falling to Embry Riddle 74-72 from Walker Arena on night one of the Gulf South/Sunshine State Challenge. The Flames trailed by as many as 13 with just 7:35 remaining in the second half before going on a 17-6 run to pull within two at 68-66 with 2:20 remaining. Senior guard Cody Jones buried a three to make it just one-point Eagles lead at 70-69 with 1 minute remaining to bring the home crowd to their feet. The Flames would get a stop and had several close put back opportunities in the paint by Ryan Montgomery with 22 seconds left but failed to convert, eventually losing the ball out of bounds. From there the Eagles salted away the game with four foul shots. “Cody did what seniors do he made some big shots and settled down in the second half and Duke gave us a big lift off the bench,” noted head coach Bubba Smith. Jones led the way with 19 points and canned four triples. Sophomore Michael McGuirk got to the foul line and converted 10 of 13 and finished with 18 points while red-shirt freshman Kentrell “Duke” Evans scored 10 of the bench. “We played a good basketball team and it’s good to play teams like this early in the season. In the first half I think we let them control the game too much,” admitted Smith. “We gave up… [Read full story]
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