CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Valdosta State Blazers fell in their Gulf South Conference season opener to Lee University on Saturday afternoon, 87-73. Junior Caden Boser continued to dominate for the Blazers, recording his first double-double of the season, scoring 21 points on 7-11 shooting and hauling in 10 rebounds.
 
For the game, the Flames outshot the Blazers, shooting 31-70 (44%) compared to 26-63 (41%). Valdosta State's bench outscored Lee's bench, 28-8, and the Blazers knocked down 14 of their 19 free throws.
 
Things kicked off quickly, with Lee hitting their first three three point attempts thanks to two offensive rebounds to take an early 9-1 lead. Graduate student Jay Rucker came back with a layup to cut it to 9-3. The Flames then lit it up, making four of their next five while the Blazers missed their next five to make it a 14-3 lead for Lee heading into the first media timeout.
 
The Blazers brought in a completely new group coming out of the break, and junior Braxton Williams got things going. The recent Coastal Alabama South CC transfer went on a 5-0 run by himself to trim the deficit to seven with 13:03 left. Going into the second media timeout, VSU trailed 19-9 on 3-13 (25%) from the field while LU shot 7-12 (63%).
 
Braxton Williams was a major plus for Valdosta State, scoring a season high 15 points off the bench, as he was second on the team in scoring for the game.
 
Out of the timeout, Lee continued to grow their lead en route to a 17-2 run in thanks to seven Valdosta State turnovers to increase the lead to 33-11 with 7:50 left.
 
The Blazers fought hard out of the stoppage, going on a quick 8-0 over a 1:15 second period to trim into the Flames' lead. A steal and dunk from Rucker increased the run to 10 with 4:53 remaining in the first half. A layup from LU increased the lead to 14 heading into the final media timeout of the half.
 
Heading into the break, Lee lead Valdosta State 42-28 thanks to the Flames shooting 49% from the floor and 38% from three. Meanwhile, the Blazers were led by Atlanta native Jay Rucker, who recorded eight points, three rebounds, and two steals in the first half.
 
Lee started the second half just like they started the first, scoring two quick baskets in 45 seconds to balloon the lead to 46-28. Both teams were trading baskets, as senior Mike Isler and graduate student Jay Rucker had back to dunks to send the Blazers to the first media timeout of the half, trailing 53-37. After graduate student LaTrell Tate hit two free throws out of the break, Jay Rucker swatted a shot on the other end to give the Blazers some momentum with 14:19 left on the clock.
 
The offense started to pick up on both ends, as two layups and a three from Lee was countered by a layup from graduate student Sam Martin and a three pointer from junior Caden Boser kept the Blazers in it, trailing 60-44 with 12:06 left.
 
Out of the media break, Boser knocked down two free throws and senior Lee Flenor made a layup to cut the Lee lead to 12 with 10:34 left. After free throws on both ends of the floor, junior Jack Wetzel came down the floor and hit a three. After a missed jumper on the other end, Braxton Williams splashed home a trey ball to ignite a fire under the Blazers heading into the under eight timeout, trailing 68-57.
 
Lee kept fighting back on any run Valdosta State tried, keeping the score at a safe distance with 5:00 left, leading 73-63. The Blazers showed no quit, slowing chipping away at the Flames lead and responding back to any basket. Valdosta State trailed 78-67 at the 3:26 mark, needing one more big push to attempt the comeback.
 
Lee scored a quick layup and forced a turnover to increase the lead to 13 heading into the final media timeout.
 
Valdosta State battled for the rest of the game but were never to cut the lead to single digits, falling to Lee by the score of 87-73 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Valdosta State has tomorrow off before heading to Rome, Ga. to face Shorter on Monday, Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the last road game of the month before heading back to The Complex to host Delta State on Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.