November 3, 2009
Temple Defeats Lee in 2 Overtimes
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Three summers ago a young player named Johnny McLawhorn was enrolled at Lee, according to Lee men’s basketball coach Tommy Brown. For unknown reasons things didn’t work out for the athlete. You might say he returned to haunt the Flames on Monday evening in Walker Arena.
All McLawhorn did was score 43 points (19-of-30 from the field, 4-of-7 from behind the arc and grab seven rebounds) in leading visiting Tennessee Temple to a stunning double-overtime 114-109 win and spoil Lee’s 2009-10 hoop opener.
“We didn’t have an answer for him,” said a deeply disappointed Brown. “This is the worst defense I’ve ever had a team play for me. I’m not taking anything away from Temple. I think it was just a case of them wanting it a little bit more than we did. I want to apologize to our fans. We had a great crowd, but I didn’t have our team well enough prepared to get a victory.”
The contest had as many twists and turns as a mountain road. The Flames got out to an early advantage and led by as much as nine points at the midway point of the first half. The Crusaders refused to fold and trailed by only three, 45-42 at the break.
Temple came out on fire in the opening minutes of the second half and the two long-time rivals exchanged leads several times before the Crusaders went up by four, 91-87 with only 22 seconds remaining in regulation. However, senior Josh Nofflet, who had a career-high 33 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds, tallied four quick points to send the thriller into OT tied at 91.
“I kept waiting for them (Temple) to wear down,” stressed Brown. “McLawhorn played a ton of minutes (44), and they just kept coming. We had to have someone step up and stop him and I tried several. In this same situation last year, we would have gone to Paco (Diaw), but we don’t have a Paco this year – not yet, anyway.”
The Crusaders went up again 100-97 with time clicking down in the first overtime. It was Jerel Blocker’s time to come to Lee’s rescue. He knocked down a field goal and hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 100. Blocker finished with 23 points and five boards in his first game as a Flame.
Temple gained the upper hand in the second OT 110-107 on a huge trey by McLawhorn. The Flames cut the margin to 110-109 on two freebies by Blocker. In fact, Lee had one shot at taking the lead in the final minute, but a forced shot and a rebound by the Crusaders helped spell defeat.
The pressure was squared on Temple’s Jarrett Smith after he was fouled with only six seconds remaining. Smith, who had made only 1-of-7 in earlier attempts, canned both charity tosses to seal the victory. It will take Brown and his troops a few hours to get over the stunning loss, but battles with Carver College (Thursday) and Bluefield (Saturday) face the Flames before the week ends.
The statistics show It was a Lee-Temple deluxe war that featured plenty of good and some bad. Temple shot 51 percent from the field and made 11-of-20 3-pointers. However, the Crusader made 31 trips to the free-throw line and converted just 13. The visitors turned the ball over 18 times against Lee pressure.
The Flames finished with a 46 percent field goal percentage, but that’s where most of the good stops for Brown’s club on offense. Lee made just 3-of-19 shots from behind the arc and went to the charity stripe 50 times, making just 28 (56 percent). The Flames turned the basketball over 23 times. On a positive note, Nofflet and Larrques Cunningham paced Lee to a commanding 64-46 margin on the boards. The leaping Cunningham finished with 15 points (four dunks) and 10 rebounds. He almost had a triple double with eight blocked shots.
Desmond Blue was the other Flame in double-figure scoring with 11 markers. He added five boards. In fact, Lee outscored Temple 58-52 in points in the paint, 18-15 in second-chance points, and 39-17 in points off the bench. Tyler Cutter had eight assists and seven points. The Flames were hit with three technical fouls.
While McLawhorn proved to be unstopable, Smith stepped up with 18 points, and Uros Komadinoc totaled 17 and canned four key 3-point shots. He also led the Crusaders with seven rebounds. Ed Pellot-Rosa rounded out Temple’s double-figure scoring with 10.
Three summers ago a young player named Johnny McLawhorn was enrolled at Lee, according to Lee men’s basketball coach Tommy Brown. For unknown reasons things didn’t work out for the athlete. You might say he returned to haunt the Flames on Monday evening in Walker Arena.
All McLawhorn did was score 43 points (19-of-30 from the field, 4-of-7 from behind the arc and grab seven rebounds) in leading visiting Tennessee Temple to a stunning double-overtime 114-109 win and spoil Lee’s 2009-10 hoop opener.
“We didn’t have an answer for him,” said a deeply disappointed Brown. “This is the worst defense I’ve ever had a team play for me. I’m not taking anything away from Temple. I think it was just a case of them wanting it a little bit more than we did. I want to apologize to our fans. We had a great crowd, but I didn’t have our team well enough prepared to get a victory.”
The contest had as many twists and turns as a mountain road. The Flames got out to an early advantage and led by as much as nine points at the midway point of the first half. The Crusaders refused to fold and trailed by only three, 45-42 at the break.
Temple came out on fire in the opening minutes of the second half and the two long-time rivals exchanged leads several times before the Crusaders went up by four, 91-87 with only 22 seconds remaining in regulation. However, senior Josh Nofflet, who had a career-high 33 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds, tallied four quick points to send the thriller into OT tied at 91.
“I kept waiting for them (Temple) to wear down,” stressed Brown. “McLawhorn played a ton of minutes (44), and they just kept coming. We had to have someone step up and stop him and I tried several. In this same situation last year, we would have gone to Paco (Diaw), but we don’t have a Paco this year – not yet, anyway.”
The Crusaders went up again 100-97 with time clicking down in the first overtime. It was Jerel Blocker’s time to come to Lee’s rescue. He knocked down a field goal and hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 100. Blocker finished with 23 points and five boards in his first game as a Flame.
Temple gained the upper hand in the second OT 110-107 on a huge trey by McLawhorn. The Flames cut the margin to 110-109 on two freebies by Blocker. In fact, Lee had one shot at taking the lead in the final minute, but a forced shot and a rebound by the Crusaders helped spell defeat.
The pressure was squared on Temple’s Jarrett Smith after he was fouled with only six seconds remaining. Smith, who had made only 1-of-7 in earlier attempts, canned both charity tosses to seal the victory. It will take Brown and his troops a few hours to get over the stunning loss, but battles with Carver College (Thursday) and Bluefield (Saturday) face the Flames before the week ends.
The statistics show It was a Lee-Temple deluxe war that featured plenty of good and some bad. Temple shot 51 percent from the field and made 11-of-20 3-pointers. However, the Crusader made 31 trips to the free-throw line and converted just 13. The visitors turned the ball over 18 times against Lee pressure.
The Flames finished with a 46 percent field goal percentage, but that’s where most of the good stops for Brown’s club on offense. Lee made just 3-of-19 shots from behind the arc and went to the charity stripe 50 times, making just 28 (56 percent). The Flames turned the basketball over 23 times. On a positive note, Nofflet and Larrques Cunningham paced Lee to a commanding 64-46 margin on the boards. The leaping Cunningham finished with 15 points (four dunks) and 10 rebounds. He almost had a triple double with eight blocked shots.
Desmond Blue was the other Flame in double-figure scoring with 11 markers. He added five boards. In fact, Lee outscored Temple 58-52 in points in the paint, 18-15 in second-chance points, and 39-17 in points off the bench. Tyler Cutter had eight assists and seven points. The Flames were hit with three technical fouls.
While McLawhorn proved to be unstopable, Smith stepped up with 18 points, and Uros Komadinoc totaled 17 and canned four key 3-point shots. He also led the Crusaders with seven rebounds. Ed Pellot-Rosa rounded out Temple’s double-figure scoring with 10.
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