WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—A monster game from a senior helped the Southeastern men's basketball team kick off 2016 with a win.
Larry Taylor scored a career-high 36 points, and dished out a career-high 12 assists for the first double-double of his career in a 107-102 win over Florida National in the opening game of the English Family Classic, hosted by Keiser University.
The Englewood, Florida native was 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line, and also helped out by snagging six rebounds.
Taylor scored 11 points in the first 4:08 of the contest to help SEU (9-5) take a 10-point lead (18-8). The Conquistadors kept the contest close with their fast break offense and inside scoring, and tied the game at 27 with 11:00 to go in the first half. Both teams were better than 50% from the field in the first half, with the Fire shooting better than 63% to hold a 60-56 lead at the intermission.
The second half played out similarly. A jumper in the lane by Florida National's Kevin Johnson tied the game at 100 with 2:41 to play. Taylor again came to the aid of his team, knocking down a 3-pointer to give the Fire the lead for good.
Florida National (10-5) had two possessions trailing by a single basket, but turned it over with 1:10 to play, and missed a jumper with 26 seconds remaining.
Jake Hodges added 19 points, five assists, and five rebounds to the winning effort. Also in double figures were
Elijah Ray (15),
Caleb Konieczny (12), and
Isaac Barsh off the bench with 12.
As a team, the Fire finished the night 59% from the field, and 60% (15-25) from beyond the arc.
Southeastern will play its second game of the classic tomorrow at 5 p.m. against Northern New Mexico University.
