LAKELAND, Fla.—First-place Florida Memorial needed two buzzer-beater shots to leave Southeastern with a 106-104 triple overtime victory over the Fire on Thursday.
A layup by
Jalen McCallum with six seconds left in the third extra period tied the game at 104, but Aaron Bryant came back the other way with an off balance shot in the lane that danced around the rim and fell through the net to give the Lions (15-6, 11-2 TSC) the win.
The Fire built a 15-point first half lead on a 7-0 run with 7:37 left, but the Lions outscored SEU (13-14, 4-10) 16-9 following that run and trailed 38-30 at halftime.
Josue Celestin sparked the Fire in the opening 20 minutes with six points and nine rebounds off the bench. The senior finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.
A quick start to the second half by FMU tied the game at 41 with 17:26 left on one of four 3-pointers by leading scorer Charlie Nedd-Araujo. Even after falling behind briefly, the Fire answered back in a big way with a 16-3 run to push the lead back to double digits (59-47) with 8:35 to go.
Jalen McCallum, who scored a team-best 30 points, capped the run with one of his five 3-pointers on the night.
Four turnovers in the final five minutes by the hosts gave the Lions opportunities to linger around, and led 67-66 with 1:17 left. With 37 seconds left in regulation,
Harrison Hebert drained his second 3-pointer of the night from the right corner to put the Fire up 69-67. The Lions tied the game on the ensuing possession, giving the last shot of the second half to Southeastern.
While driving to the basket, Reese drew contact on his shot attempt, but was called for an offensive foul.
The Fire trailed by four with 2:01 left in overtime, but a 3-pointer by McCallum from nearly 30-feet out knotted the game at 78.
Florida Memorial had the final shot in the first overtime, but a block by
Wesley Johnson on the game-winning attempt sent the game to a second overtime.
Despite 29 personal fouls and five players fouling out, the Fire held a five-point lead with 1:25 left in double overtime. The Lions got back-to-back baskets by Kody Williams, taking advantage of one of SEU's 24 turnovers in the contest to make it a one-point deficit with 42 seconds left. Williams was unable to connect on the following possession and
Conner Custodio came away with the rebound and was fouled.
Custodio sank both free throws to give the Fire a 91-88 lead with seven seconds left, but Nedd-Araujo drained a 3-pointer at the horn to force another five minutes.
The Fire led by four in the third overtime with 2:09 left, but a free thrown and another trey by Nedd-Araujo tied the game at 102 with 1:21 left, setting up the finish.
"Florida Memorial stepped up and made plays when plays had to be made," said coach
R-Jay Barsh. "I was proud of our guys, they played hard, but we haven't been able to close out games and it got us again tonight."
Southeastern finished the night 48% from the field, connected on 13 3-pointers, and were 77% at the free throw line.
Hebert added 20 points off the bench for the Fire, making four of his eight 3-pointers.
CJ Reese (19) and
Jeremy Oppenheimer (10) were both in double-figures before fouling out. Oppenheimer played a game high 50 minutes.
The Fire return to action on Saturday in North Miami against Johnson and Wales.
