Cleveland, Tenn. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team put up a good fight in its bid for an upset of the nation's seventh-ranked team on Saturday afternoon before losing 89-78 at Lee University in Southern States Athletic Conference action.
The Mariners (4-14 overall, 2-6 SSAC) were within 50-49 of the Flames with 13:49 to play, but saw Lee go on a 23-7 run over the next 6:13 of the game for a 73-56 advantage that was too big of a deficit for the Mariners to overcome on the road.
Coastal Georgia did whittle its deficit to seven points late in the contest before Lee (15-1, 7-1) went on to win by the final margin.
The Mariners had won each of their last two games in the conference. Lee's only loss thus far this season came last week when the Flames lost 82-79 to sixth-ranked William Carey in their SSAC confrontation.
Coastal Georgia, which competes in the SSAC East Division along with Lee, will face the Flames again on Feb. 4 at Howard Coffin Gym in Brunswick. The Mariners will remain on the road for another league game at Truett-McConnell on Monday.
The Mariners stayed within single-digits of Lee throughout most of the first half before going to the locker room down 31-26 at intermission. Coastal Georgia tied the Flames at 43-43 with 15:38 to play on a Dustin Henry basket, but the Flames quickly grabbed the lead again and would soon make their big surge that all but put the game out of reach for Coastal Georgia.
Will Barnes led all scorers with 23 points for Lee, which shot 58 percent from the field (34-of-58) on the afternoon. Jamorris Gaines followed with 20 points for the Flames. Barnes was 7-for-10 from the field in the game, while Gaines was 8-of-11 shooting.
Lee also shot it well from the foul line as a team, making 15 of their 17 total attempts.
P.J. Reason was the top scorer for the Mariners with 16 points. Kentorey Johnson finished right behind Reason with 15 points while Jevan Billinger added 10. Johnson led the Mariners with 10 rebounds to record a double-double in the loss.
The Mariners, who shot 39 percent overall from the floor, kept it close with their shooting from the three-point line, where they shot 55 percent (11-for-20) for the game.
The Mariners made almost as many three-point attempts as they did free throws as they were 13-of-22 at the foul line.
