LAKELAND, Fla.—The script flipped in the second 20 minutes.
Southeastern ran into shooting problems in the second half of their regular season finale, dropping the game to Ave Maria 83-73 to conclude the season 21-8 and 14-4 in Sun Conference play.
With Keiser's loss earlier in the day, the Fire clinched the regular season title, and will be the No. 1 seed in next week's Sun Conference Tournament.
The Fire built a 41-25 advantage with a 5-0 run with four of those points coming off of the hands of senior
Jeremy Oppenheimer, who finished with 17. However, momentum started to shift to the Gyrenes as they closed the half on a 12-5 run and trailed by just nine at the halftime break.
During the second half, Southeastern was just 9-of-33 from the field (27.3%) and went just 1-for-10 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Gyrenes were 17-of-30 (56.7%) and connected on six 3-pointers to take control of the game.
For just over five minutes in the second half, neither team led by more than a basket. Oppenheimer hit a layup with 10:55 left to put the Fire up 62-60, but his team didn't connect on another field goal until the 3:23 mark of the half, when it was trailing by 15. During that 7:32 span, the Fire were 0-for-7 from the field.
An
Isaiah Moody layup off of a
Noah Wells steal got the Fire within eight with 44 seconds left, but a pair of Ave Maria free throws on the next possession sealed the game.
Reggie Mesidor added 17 points to the effort, and
Riley Minix fouled out after 25 minutes with 12.
The Fire will be back in action on Friday in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
