Babson Park, Fla. - The Southeastern Men's Basketball team top Webber Internationation in their comeback performance on Thursday night, 64-63.
The Fire had a slow start to start this contest and the Warriors took full advantage capitalizing off of the Fire's turnovers. The Warriors hit three 3-point shots to put them up 15-5 within the first eight minutes of play. Fire trailed by as many as 13 within the first half and the Warriors seemed to be full throttle heading into the half and to cap it off, hit a buzzer beating 3-point shot to have the Fire trailing 32-21 at the half.
Devon Ford led the way with 10 points, shooting 4/6 from the field, and added four rebounds. Karl Jeanty led the team in rebounding with ten and recorded four points.
As a team the Fire shot 7-26 from the field, 0-6 from 3-point land, and 7-11 at the free throw line. The Warriors shot 12-28 from the field, 6-10 from the 3-point line, and 2-4 at the free throw line.
Fire came out in the second half with no doubt that they were still in this game, cutting the deficit by making great defensive plays and transitioning those plays from defense into good offense.
Sean Shore made a strong lay-up in the paint and drew a foul and made the follow up free throw to tie the game 38-38 with 14:24 remaining. The Fire continued to battle to try to get more of a comfortable lead and a big shot from Deshuan Osborne helped the Fire take their largest lead of the contest to make it 57-50.
The Warriors rallied and put together a 9-2 run to bring the game back to a tie at 59-59. Riley Matticks put a stop to the run by answering with a 3-pointer himself to put the Fire up 62-59. A foul sent the Warriors to the free line and they made 1-of-2 making the game a two-point game. The Fire shot free throws of their own the following possession, Osborne was good for both putting the Fire up four with five seconds remaining.The Warriors shot a buzzer beating three to end the game, but were not able to draw a foul and the Fire came out on top 64-63.
Individually, Matticks and Ford led the team in scoring with 18 a piece, Ford added eight rebounds and two assists. Matticks also led the team in assists with four and added four rebounds. Karl Jeanty led the team in rebounds with 14 and recorded eight points.
The Fire 11-14 (5-13 TSC) will be heading back home next week to face Ave Maria Thursday, February 18th, 7:30 P.M. at The Furnace.
