LAKELAND, Fla. – After suffering a tough loss to the Night Hawks on the road just six days prior, the Southeastern University men's basketball team defeated the Thomas University Night Hawks 77-53 in front of 500 plus inside The Furnace. With the win, the Fire snapped a six game winless streak.
Junior guard
CJ Reese and freshman guard
Jeremy Oppenheimer provided the juice for the SEU offense, combining for 43 points on the night. The duo shot 53.8% (14-26) from the field, 63.6% (7-11) from behind the arc, and were perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.
The first half was a back and forth affair between the Fire and the Night Hawks, with five total lead changes. After Thomas tied things up 25-25 with 3:39 to go, SEU closed out the half on a 12-5 run, in which Reese and Oppenheimer were responsible for all Fire points, to take a 37-30 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Fire locked down on defense, limiting the Night Hawks 28% (7-25) shooting from the field including 11.1% (1-9) from behind the arc. However, SEU continued to heat up from the field, especially in three point range, where the Fire were a perfect 5-5 to open the half.
SEU used a 10-0 run early in the half to go up 47-36 with 15:51 remaining. The Fire had active hands in the early goings of the second half, forcing seven turnovers and scoring 11 points off those takeaways during the opening 10 minutes. Southeastern scored 26 points off of 17 turnovers on the night.
A pair of stuffed shots by junior Wes Johnson in a span of less than 40 seconds (15:47-15:19) caused the home crowd to erupt. Johnson is second in The Sun Conference in blocked shots with 37 on the season.
SEU continued to power past Thomas in the final minutes, outscoring the Night Hawks 20-8 in the final 12 minutes of play.
Senior guard
Jalen McCallum posted his third straight game as a double digit scorer, pouring in 10 points. Senior guard Deshaun Wilcox was an all-around contributor, scoring nine, pulling in six boards, tallying three assists, and swiping a trio of steals.
The Night Hawks' combo of Jalen Bonds and Javoris Cooks, who combined for 41 points and shot 43.8% from the field versus the Fire in the previous meeting, were limited to a total of 23 points and just 33.3% shooting on Thursday.
