Lee, a sophomore guard, scored a career-high 26 points as Methodist rolled past North Carolina Wesleyan 76-59 at Everett Gymnasium. Methodist, which recovered successfully from Saturday’s disappointing defeat against Chowan, improves to 18-5 overall and remains undefeated in the USA South Athletic Conference at 10-0.
The 18 victories equals last season’s victory total – the most in a season under sixth-year head coach David Smith.
Lee was 8-for-16 from the field, including 3-for-8 from 3-point range, and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. He was one of three Monarchs to score in double-figures as Seth Thomas scored 16 points, and Sam Porter recorded his eighth consecutive double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
There were four lead changes in the first half before Methodist took control, finishing the half on a 14-2 run. Lee started the rally with a 3-point basket 5:33 remaining, and Thomas followed with another 3-point basket with a minute remaining to give the Monarchs a 31-23 lead.
Lee then drained a jump shot to make the Methodist lead 33-23 at halftime.
Opening the second half, Lee scored five points as the Monarchs tightened their grip with an 11-2 run in the first three minutes. Methodist’s largest lead of the game was 24 points twice in the second half. The last time was 62-38 on Dragan Radmanovic’s tip-in with 9:16 remaining.
The Bishops were able to trim the lead to 13 points late, but that was as close as North Carolina Wesleyan would get.
Lenny Hall paced the Bishops (8-15, 1-9) with 19 points, while Ramone Spears and Jarvis Cobb each scored 11 points.
Methodist closes out the regular season with a big road trip to Virginia. The Monarchs play at Christopher Newport on Saturday at 4 p.m., followed by Shenandoah on Sunday at 4 p.m.