#22 Flames erase 20-point deficit, win overtime thriller

Photo via @reilyrogersphoto.

Down 54-34 with 14 minutes left, the nationally-ranked Lee Flames stormed back for a big road victory over Montevallo 86-82.

Earlier this week, Lee was voted #22 in the country by the Division-2 Sports Information Directors Association, or D2SIDA.

“Credit to our guys, man … they fight,” Coach Bubba Smith said postgame. “They had belief in them in the second half, like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna win this game.’”

The run was sparked by senior Jayce Willingham’s four-point play to trim the deficit to 16. From there, the Flames buckled in and used stops-and-scores to chip away. Willingham later knocked down a pair of free throws to eclipse 1,000 career points — he’s the 33rd player in program history to reach the milestone.

At the under-12 media timeout, Montevallo led 56-43. Lee used four threes in the next few minutes — two from Beyuan Hendricks and one from both PJay Smith and Makhi McGuire — to make a 16-9 run until the next media timeout. At the under-8 game break, the deficit was just six.

In six minutes of game action, Lee had trimmed the deficit from 20 to 6.

From there, Lee and Montevallo traded buckets for several minutes, with Montevallo holding a two-possession lead.

The pendulum swung in Lee’s direction with a steal from PJay Smith with a minute left to play. After the takeaway, Smith found a cutting Tariq Daughton who knocked down two big free throws after getting fouled.

Montevallo, with 55 seconds left on the clock, led 72-69 with the ball. After a timeout, Montevallo’s Braxton Bertolette was called for a carrying violation with 30 seconds left. Lee got the stop they needed, and for the first time of the game, they had a shot to tie.

Beyuan Hendricks found PJay Smith on the wing, and Smith delivered. The Flames had stormed all the way back, and the game was tied. The two teams would head to overtime tied at 72.

In the extra five minutes of action, the Flames outscored Montevallo 14-10 to complete the comeback.

Willingham led the way for the Flames’ victory with 25 points. Smith added 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, and Hendricks dropped 13 points with seven dimes.

“ … It starts on the defensive end,” Coach Smith said. “Our attention to detail and affecting shots … that, for us, leads to good offense.”

In their run to close out regulation, Lee locked in and held Montevallo to 7-of-21 from the field.

“Once we started stringing multiple stops together, I think it led to some good things offensively for us,” Smith continued.

Lee improves to 13-3 on the season and 12-3 in the Gulf South Conference. They remain in first place.

The Flames will ride a three-game win streak into a big week in Walker Arena. They’ll play West Alabama Thursday, Jan. 26 and Alabama-Huntsville Saturday, Jan. 28.