The Shorter Hawks men's basketball team (8-9, 3-9) suffered a 98-83 setback at Gulf South Conference foe Lee University (4-12, 3-9) on Saturday night. Phil Taylor scored 39 points for the Hawks, his second highest point total of the season. Taylor scored 46 against the North Georgia Nighthawks in December.
Trevor McDade scored the first five Shorter points, helping his team jump out to a 5-2 lead. The three-point lead was the Hawks biggest of the night. They played the majority of the game from behind, leading for only 1:47 of 40 minutes.
Late in the first half, Lee's Bryce Copeland swung the momentum in favor of the Flames by hitting two threes, but Phil Taylor and McDade did their best to keep Shorter in the game. The duo had 19 and 11 points at the half, but the Hawks trailed the Flames 47-34.
Lee extended its lead to 18 points at the under 16 media timeout of the second half. With 13:15 remaining in the game, Taylor scored his 21st point of the night, cutting the Flames lead to 65-50. Just under two minutes later, Shorter cut the deficit to 10, 66-56, thanks to a Trevor McDade three pointer. The 10-point lead was Lee's smallest since the 2:39 mark of the first half when it led 40-29. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they would not cut into the deficit anymore.
Over the final 12 minutes, the Flames of Lee University controlled the game. With 5:47 remaining, Shorter's McDade fouled out, finishing with 21 points. Just 40 seconds later, Lee took its largest lead of the night by a score of 88-63. The Hawks finished the game on a 20-10 run, but they were defeated 98-83.
Trevor McDade scored 21 points for Shorter, in addition to Phil Taylor's 39. The Hawks shot 43.4% from the floor, compared to 59.1% for Lee. Keevin Tyus led Lee with 26 points on 11-15 shooting. Shorter will be back in action on Thursday, January 21st when Christian Brothers University visits the Winthrop-King Centre. Tipoff is set for 8 PM EST.
