Men's Basketball Takes First Meeting over New College

LAKELAND, Fla.- Southeastern men's basketball moved to 3-3 on the season today with an 80-62 win over New College of Florida.

Makai Vassell concluded the contest with 15 points and a team-best 19 rebounds. Derek Murphy led the Fire shooting with 18 points, going 15-18 from the free throw line while Anthony Duncan recorded 16 points and six rebounds.

Collectively, the Fire shot 49% from the field to counter a 33% effort from the Mighty Banyans from the field.

The Mighty Banyans took the lead to open the contest with a good layup for their only lead of the contest. Three consecutive jumpers by the visiting team tied the contest at 14 with 12 minutes left to play in the half but a made free throw by Murphy held the Fire edge. With 5:56 left in the half, the Fire strung together a 10-0 run behind back-to-back three-point shots from Vassell and Murphy to take a 33-21 lead. A three-point shot from the Mighty Banyans ended the half with a 37-30 lead.

Eleven points from Murphy in the second half aided in a 44% effort from the field as the Fire would conclude the contest with their largest lead of the night at 80-62. A three-point shot from Shawn Lefresne brought the contest within three with 16:31 to play but four quick points from Duncan and layup from Joshua Blazquez put the Fire ahead by nine. Southeastern would go to the line 33 times in the second half, converting 21 to take the win.

The Fire and New College of Florida will meet again on Tuesday in Lakeland for a 2 p.m. contest.