Box Score WAXAHACHIE, TX.-- After beating NAIA Division I Evangel University the night before, the Southeastern men's basketball team dropped their following game to the 21st-ranked Vanguard University Lions by a score of 80-68. At one point, the Fire had a 14-point lead but were unable to hold on to it.
With the loss, Southeastern finishes 1-1 at the Holiday Classic. The Fire are now 6-5 this season, while the Lions improve to 8-2.
Southeastern jumped out to a 15-4 lead six minutes into the game.
Larry Taylor scored his fifth point of the game with 14:51 left in the first half; the two-point basket in the paint marked his 1,000th career point in a college career that has included stops at Liberty University and Bob Jones University.
Taylor finished with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Southeastern's double-digit lead started to disappear with 4:39 left in the half. The Lions clawed back into the game in the final minutes of the half to take a five-point deficit into the locker room.
The shooting for the Fire went cold in the second half. In the second half, the Fire shot 8-24 and 10-21 from the free throw stripe. Vanguard took their first lead of the game with 8:57 left in the contest before taking the lead for good a minute and a half later.
Elijah Ray finished with 17 points and nine rebounds on 7-11 shooting.
Jake Hodges recorded 12 points on 6-12 FG shooting.
Isaac Barsh was solid off the bench for the Fire, as he scored 10 and brought down eight boards.
The Fire will take a short break for Christmas before going down to St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida on the 29th and 30th. Southeastern will take on Sienna Heights University and the University of Virgin Islands. Game times are TBD.
