LAKELAND, FLA.-- The ball doesn't seem to be bouncing Southeastern's way these days. It was no different today, as the St. Thomas University Bobcats handed the Fire their fourth straight conference loss by a score of 82-72.
The Fire have dropped to 14-10 overall and 4-7 in Sun Conference play; St. Thomas improves to 12-7 and 6-3 in conference.
In the first eight minutes, the Bobcats jumped out to an 11-point lead after the Fire came out of the gate slow.
Isaac Barsh did his best to help the team claw their way back as he scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
Josue Celestin had the best game of his Southeastern career so far, as he scored 9 points in the first half, including his first ever 3-point basket. The forward finished with 13 points in nine minutes of action off the bench.
The Fire dug themselves out of the first half deficit at the 6:15 mark after
Linwood Ross tied the game at 23 with a successful 3-point shot. Southeastern kept the lead going into the locker room at the half and held their advantage for two and a half minutes into the second half before St. Thomas came back.
The Bobcats defense did their best to limit the 3-point shooting efforts of the Fire, as they were able to put a lid on
Larry Taylor (five points) and
Matt Crowe (two points). The Fire shot 25% from the arc in the second half as the Bobcats pulled away.
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Jake Hodges finished with 16 points on 6-18 shooting. ?Ross scored 13 points and recovered four rebounds.
Caleb Konieczny contributed with 12 points and brought down seven boards.
The Fire will look to get back in the win column Wednesday night as they'll travel down to Ave Maria University. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
