West Palm Beach, Fla. - Behind 18 points and five assists from Will Lee (Sr., Woodside, N.Y.), the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish (1-0) began the 2024-25 men's basketball season with a 77-64 win over the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans (0-1).

A back-and-forth first half saw neither team build a lead larger than five points. The Trojans jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but the Sailfish answered with a 10-2 run to take a 16-13 advantage. The two teams entered the break tied 33-33.

Lee led the Sailfish with eight points at the break. Alvin Tumblin Jr. (Sr., Sebring, Fla.) and Josh Ward (Jr., Memphis, Tenn.) each pulled down seven rebounds in the first half. Tumblin was particularly good on the offensive glass pulling down three of the team's six first-half offensive boards.

The Trojans took a 35-33 lead right after the half. It was the last lead they would hold in the game. Ward made three of the first four Sailfish baskets after the break to give his team a 39-35 lead. The Trojans cut the deficit to 41-40, but the Sailfish went on a 13-4 run to open up a 10-point lead and force a Trojans' timeout with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game.

The Trojans would cut the lead to six, but they never got any closer than that. The Sailfish extended their lead to 62-50 after back-to-back fast break baskets by Ward just before the under 8:00 timeout. They would eventually extend the lead to 14 after Tumblin knocked down a shot to make the score 70-56.

Ward finished the game as the Sailfish's second-leading scorer, netting 15 points and nine rebounds. Tumblin finished with a game-high 10 boards. Jakob Hester (Sr., Holiday, Fla.) scored 14 points and finished with five rebounds and four assists.

As a team, the Sailfish performed better than the Trojans in just about every category. They outrebounded them 45-33, shot 44.8% from the field compared to 36.1% for Trevecca Nazarene, and dished out 13 assists compared to eight.

The Trojans were led by Jalen Page (Sr., Murfreesboro, Tenn.) who scored a game-high 19 points in the losing effort.

The Sailfish will continue their season tomorrow, November 9, against the Morehouse Maroon Tigers (0-1). Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET