LAKELAND, Fla. – Southeastern men's basketball team fought back to recover from a 24-point deficit, however it was Thomas' Sean Kostyk who would sink a 3-pointer with less than one second on the clock to win the game 71-70 for the Night Hawks. SEU is now 18-8 overall in the season, and 11-5 in Sun Conference play.
Thomas was the first team to get on the board. TU took a 12-8 lead with 13:30 minutes left in the half. The Night Hawks continued their momentum, furthering the lead by 10-points.
With 1:24 left in the first half, Thomas was leading Southeastern by 24-points. This was the biggest lead seen in the game.
At half time, the Fire were down by a 20-point deficit, with the Night Hawks leading 47-27.
Isaiah Moody led SEU with 12 points and 3 rebounds.
A lot of Thomas' success came from rebounds, they totaled 17 rebounds before the half. Also, the Night Hawks capitalized on the Fire's mistakes, scoring 13 points from turnovers. Thomas' attack was led by junior, Joshua Scott and red-shirt junior, Cedric Wright.
Southeastern started the second half with a 7-point run, decreasing the deficit to 13-points. However, Thomas found their momentum again and took a 20-point lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
Within 10 minutes, the Fire fought and worked hard to diminish the point deficit. The Fire picked up the pressure, forcing numerous Thomas turnovers. With 2 minutes left in the game, SEU was down by 3-points. Then with 1:36 left,
Ismael Celestin tied the game, making it 68-68.
With 18.6 seconds left on the clock,
Linwood Ross helped the Fire take the lead 70-68 with an assist by
Josiah Barsh. After being down by 24-points, the Fire were up by 2-points.
With less than one second left, Thomas University made 3-pointer at the game buzzer, to win the game 71-70.
SEU ended the night with four players shooting double-digit points. Ross lead the Fire with 17-points and 3 rebounds. The senior forward went 10-10 on his free-throws. Celestin and Moody both finished with 16 points.
The next Fire game is on February 14
th to face off against Florida Memorial University at 7:30 p.m.
