LAKELAND, FLA.--A promising start can sometimes lead to a frustrating end. In a tough loss, the Southeastern University Fire fell in a Sun Conference contest to the Johnson & Wales University Wildcats by a score of 88-77.
With the loss, the Fire fall to 14-7 and 4-4 in conference play. The Wildcats improve to 12-5 and 5-2 in conference. This marks the fourth straight game that the Fire have lost to the Wildcats.
In the first half, the Fire looked like they were poised to beat the Wildcats. Hot shooting led the way, and the Wildcats' top-ranked defense looked like they had no answers. The Fire shot 53% on 17-32 shooting in the first half.
Larry Taylor put up 20 points in the first half and finished with a career-high tying 36 points on 10-21 shooting, including 8-13 from the arc. The senior also dished out five assists.
"Larry played well; that's why we recruited him, to make shots. He continues to do that and we hope he steps up and keeps on delivering," said coach
R-Jay Barsh.
The second half was a night and day difference for the two squads. Poor free throw shooting (62% for the game) and allowing the Wildcats to start the second half on a 11-0 run while only managing three points in the first ten minutes themselves proved to be fatal for the Fire.
"I think Johnson & Wales really showed their team chemistry," said Barsh. "They bought in to their roles and coach Graham did a great job of weathering our runs and closing out our shooters."
Caleb Konieczny finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
Jake Hodges recorded seven points with a pair of assists.
During halftime, Southeastern retired number 22 in honor of the late Jack Cramer, who was the first member of the Fire to record 1,000 career points. The halftime ceremony was attended by his family, friends, alumni, and former teammates.
The Fire are back in action Tuesday as they'll travel down to West Palm Beach to take on the seventh-ranked Keiser University Seahawks. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. You can keep up with the updates on Twitter by following @SEUFireMBB.
