Box Score LAKE WALES, Fla. – Southeastern men's basketball hadn't seen a lead since the first basket of the night.
With 15 seconds to play in the second half, they led #11 Warner 85-83, but a squander in the paint during the final seconds was finished by the Royals' Eddie Delegal who tipped the basketball in with one second to play. Just like that, another five minutes flashed on the board.
The Fire led once in the overtime period, up 88-87 at the 3:52 mark, but they couldn't get the upper hand, falling 97-96 at the final buzzer.
Single digits separated the two teams for the majority of the first half, but an 11-4 Royals' run with 6:18 to play gave them a 12 point advantage, up 44-32, heading into the locker room.
Down by 20 with just over 10 minutes to play in the second, the Fire kicked on the after burners in a comeback for the books. A 14-3 run, fueled by 12 points from
Larry Taylor alone, put them back within single digits, down 73-64 at 6:41.
Warner crept back to make it 76-66 with 5:11 on the clock but a
Deshawn Wilcox long ball capped off a 10-0 run that knotted it at 76 at the 2:58 mark.
Leads were exchanged from there, never by more than a basket, before the Royals' final effort paid off and sent the game into overtime.
Jake Hodges led the Fire with 26 points and a 9-for-14 effort from the field. Taylor backed him up with 25 points while
Linwood Ross and
Caleb Konieczny were also double figure contributors with 19 and 11 points, respectively.
The Fire were an impressive 63% from long range and 53% from the field.
Warren Hall of the Royals led all scorers with 30 points.
With the loss, Southeastern moves to 14-9 overall and 4-6 in the conference. They return home to take on St. Thomas on Saturday at 4 p.m.
