LAKELAND, Fla.—A balanced scoring effort and a big first half paved the way for the Fire to hand Webber International a 66-56 loss.
Four players reached double-digit scoring totals with
Reggie Mesidor and
Karl Jeanty pouring in 15 points each, while
Sean Shore and Alowei Talent-Fitzgerald added 13 of their own. Shore's 13 points tied his career high with Talent-Fitzgerald setting his career high.
A 13-0 run by the Fire midway through the first half gave them a 25-12 lead over the Warriors. SEU carried this momentum the remainder of the half and took a 40-24 advantage into halftime.
As a team SEU shot 50% from the field including a 46.2% mark from three. Talent-Fitzgerald scored all 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes of action, only missing two of his eight shot attempts. Mesidor also had a strong opening half, scoring 11 points.
The Warriors wouldn't go away, however, scoring the first five points of the second half to bring their deficit to 11. They were able to narrow the score to 58-52 when Rasheem Etienne hit a jumper that capped off a 14-0 run.
The Fire responded and stretched the lead back to 12 when
Deshaun Osborne converted a layup off an assist Mesidor.
Southeastern clamped down on defense, holding the Warriors to shoot just 34.5% from the field, the second lowest shooting percentage they've held conference opponents to all season.
With this win the Fire (10-5, 4-4 TSC) snapped a three-game losing streak in conference play and get another opportunity against a Sun Conference opponent on Thursday, January 14
th when they face Warner on the road at 7:30 pm.
