Fire Fall to NAIA Top 5 Team at The Show

Box Score KINGSPORT, Tenn.- Southeastern men's basketball (4-4) was unable to overcome cold shooting in the first half, falling to No. 5 Georgetown College 73-59 in Kingsport, Tenn. to begin The Show.
 
Southeastern was held to 28% from the field in the first half to trail the Tigers 47-30 into the locker room. Reggie Mesidor led all scoring at the end of the first half with 13 points, going 3-6 from three-point range.
 
Georgetown began the contest going 17-17 from the field and did not miss a shot inside the arc for the first 16 minutes of action to take a 39-23 lead. Four made free throws by Makai Vassell brought the Fire deficit to 43-30 with just under a minute and a half to play but a good layup and two free throws by the Tigers gave them the 17-point edge over the Fire after the first half.
 
The Southeastern offense regrouped for the second half, outscoring the Tigers 29-26 after holding them to 0-10 from three-point range. Matthew Lentz led the Fire scoring in the second half with nine points off the bench in 14 minutes, going 4-7 from the field.
 
The Fire strung together an 8-0 run over a four-minute period to move the deficit to 55-42 and force a Tiger timeout with 12 minutes remaining in the contest. Six unanswered points from the Tigers was broken up by a Lentz three-point shot to keep the contest within 15 but the first-half deficit proved too large for the Fire to overcome as they would take the 73-59 loss.
 
Mesidor led all scoring with 16 points going 4-11 from the field and 4-9 from three-point range while Vassell recorded 15 points, going 5-12 from the field and 5-7 from the free-throw line. Lentz led the defense with six rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.
 
Southeastern will wrap up their trip to The Show tomorrow at 12:45 p.m. as they take on receiving votes University of Pikeville.