Box Score CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The UWF men's basketball team erased a 13-point deficit before falling to Lee, 74-68, at Walker Arena on Thursday.
UWF tied the game three times and led once in the second half. The Argonauts pulled even the last time with just over a minute to play when
LaTrell Tate converted a 3-point play to knot the game at 68.
Lee scored on a PJay Smith floater in the lane with 41 seconds left. On the next possession, Tate was credited with a turnover as Smith stole the ball and passed it ahead to Michael McGuirk for a basket and a 4-point lead. The Flames added another basket in the closing seconds to escape with a win.
Tate led the Argos in scoring for the 10th time in the last 13 games, scoring 18 points with 11 coming in the second half.
Daniel Sofield and Dell Matthews were also in double figures, putting up 12 and 10, respectively.
UWF found itself trailing 31-18 with 6:17 left in the first half before closing the period on a 17-9 run, scoring on six of the team's last seven possessions.
The Argos trimmed down the 7-point deficit and tied the game at 50 on a 12-0 run with 12:44 remaining. From there, it was a whole new ball game with neither team leading by more than six the rest of the way.
"We played hard and were in position to win against a good team on the road," UWF head coach
Jeff Burkhamer said. "Unfortunately, we had a couple of bad possessions late that led to easy baskets for them. A couple of possessions on either end can change the game and the outcome. We have to keep competing hard to get this turned around. We are close but have to take the next step."
UWF (7-10, 3-10 Gulf South) shot 33 percent but got to the foul line 29 times and made 23 of those.
Lee (11-3, 10-3) made 48 percent but committed 15 turnovers as UWF had 10 steals. Jayce Willingham and Beyuan Hendricks each had 17 points for the Flames.
UWF will make the trip to face Shorter (3-14, 1-12) on Saturday afternoon. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Eastern time at the Winthrop-King Centre in Rome, Georgia.
