LAKELAND, Fla.—The Fire lived up to their moniker in the second half of an 85-52 win over Johnson and Wales on Saturday.
Southeastern (11-7, 2-3 TSC) missed just four shots; and only two inside the 3-point arc. A total of 13 3-pointers were connected on by the Fire.
It was the defense that was the key in the first half for SEU, holding the Wildcats to 17 points on a mere 13% field goal shooting effort.
"We're starting to reap the rewards of playing a difficult schedule to start the season," said coach
R-Jay Barsh. "Our guys have developed a good understanding of what it takes to play good team defense."
Back-to-back three's by freshman
Jeremy Oppenheimer jump started the offense to take a 13-4 lead at the 12:57 mark of the first. Three's by
Daniel Cartwright at the 4:02 mark and
Deshawn Wilcox at the 2:30 mark gave SEU a 14-point lead, which was the biggest of the half until
Wesley Johnson converted an and-one with 38 seconds left in the half.
CJ Reese took over in the second half, making eight of his nine field goal attempts, finishing the night was 23 points, five rebounds, and six assists.
"CJ is our guy, and is a great teammate," said Barsh. "When he's doing well, everyone enjoys it."
As a team, the Fire were 85% from the field and 78% from beyond the arc in the second half.
Harrison Hebert led the charge from long range, going 5-of-6 from beyond the arc in the second half, hitting a game-high six 3's, and finished with 20 points.
Oppenheimer added nine points, nine rebounds, and four assists to the winning effort.
Defensively, the Fire held JWU leading scorer Ricardo Suarez to just four points and five turnovers. Suarez came in averaging 14 points per game.
Southeastern returns to action on Thursday at St. Thomas.
