Jan. 30, 2008

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Lee University's men's basketball coach Tommy Brown was in search of his 200th college-coaching win on Tuesday night at Tennessee Temple University's historic McGilvary Gymnasium. For the first 13 1/2 minutes of the opening half, the host Crusaders held a surprising 22-16 lead. After Brown's second timeout of the first half, the Flames got way too hot for host Crusaders. Lee went on a 20-0 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes and never looked back in the 98-44 non-conference romp.

Not only did Brown walk away with his 200th win, the unbeaten and fifth-ranked Flames improved to 19-0. The record for most consecutive wins by a Lee men's team is 21. The Flames will go after win No. 20 on Thursday, hosting Southern Wesleyan in a Southern States Athletic Conference contest.

Brown claimed 135 victories over a seven-year period at Bluefield College (Va.) and posted his 65^th win over the past three seasons as Lee's head man.

After taking the 36-22 half-time lead, the Flames reached blistering hot in the second half. With 12 minutes remaining, Lee had outscored the host Crusaders 42-4 over a 14 1/2 minute span. The Flames shot a remarkable 73 percent from the field in the second 20 minutes and an impressive 67 percent from behind the arc. They finished the night shooting 55 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range.

"I don't think we came out flat, we were just messing around and not getting into our offense in the first 14 minutes of the game," said coach Brown. "We were playing at the tempo Temple wanted us to play. When we finally got into our running game, they were no match. I can't explain how I feel about my 200th win, but I can tell you I don't know if we ever won here when I was playing at Covenant (College) and I lost the first game here after I got the Lee job."

The unselfish Flames had five players score in double figures as they outscored Temple 62-22 in the second half. Paco Diaw set with pace with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Fifteen Flames saw action and 14 scored points. Lee's bench put 56 points on the board, while Temple got just 16 from reserves.

Senior transfer Brad Harris, who played his first three seasons for the Crusaders, tossed in 12 points and dished off four assists. The Flames, one of the top teams in the nation when it comes to assists to turnover ratio, posted 29 assists and turned the ball over 16 times.

Reserve Jeff Barnhart made the best of his six-plus minutes of playing time, pouring in 11 markers and getting a pair of rebounds. Senior Kellen Pickel banged up an ankle, but still recorded a solid effort. He scored 10 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and five steals. Junior transfer Joe Fulp also returned to Temple and the former Crusader registered 10 points and seven boards. He added a pair of assists and two steals.

Junior transfer Elmar Kuli-Zade returned to his old gym and hit three treys in scoring nine points. The smallest man on the floor grabbed five rebounds to go along with three assists. Freddie Williams was a factor in the late first-half surge and tallied eight points and contributed two assists.

Lee, one of the NAIA's best defensive clubs, held the Crusaders to just 32 percent shooting from the field. Temple converted only 2-of-13 trey attempts and struggled from the free throw line (6-of-15).  Rokas Gricius was the only Crusader in double figures. He had 14 points and O'Brian Callahan, who played at Lee last season, finished the night with nine markers.