Men's Basketball Falls to Lions

Miami Gardens, Fla.- The Southeastern University men's basketball team fell to an overall record of 10-12 (4-11 TSC) on the season after falling to Sun Conference opponent Florida Memorial by a score of 68-54.
 
The men have struggled to find momentum through their last seven outings after suffering the loss of multiple key players and were unable to break their six game losing streak going into tonight's matchup against the Lions.
 
After winning the tipoff, the Lions jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but freshman Armani Payne brought the Fire back within one after hitting a three pointer with 16:33 remaining. The Lions then went on to put together a 5-0 run to put them up 18-5 after three Lion three pointers in three and a half minutes of play. Another three pointer by Armani brought the Fire back within nine with just under seven minutes to play in the first half. Sean Shore was then able to string together a good jumper and three pointer in less than a minute to make the score 29-20 in favor of the Lions with under five minutes remaining. The Fire were able to keep the deficit to under 10 going into halftime as the half ended with a 35-26 lead for the Lions aftr shooting only 26% from the field.
 
The Fire got the scoring started in the second half after Devon Ford put up a good jumper and a good layup within the first three minutes of the half to bring the Fire within striking distance. A fast break in the paint by Riley Matticks and two made free throws 42-34 with 11:38 remaining. After two more three pointers by the Lions FMU grabbed their largest lead of the night with a score of 54-37 with 6:55 still to play in the game but after 7 quick points from Alaowei Fitzgerald the Fire were able to reduce the deficit to eight with 1:17 remaining. The Lions ended the night with 65-52 victory over the Fire.
 
Fitzgerald ended the night as the Fire's leading scorer after recording 13 points and six rebounds in only 19 minutes of play. Karl Jeanty led the defense with nine rebounds.
 
The Fire will look to get back in the win column on Thursday as they travel to West Palm Beach to take on Keiser University at 7:30 p.m.