LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern compiled a stellar defensive effort and showed some grit in a 70-62 win over St. Thomas to win The Sun Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at The Furnace.
Just hours after a comeback effort in the semifinals, the Fire found themselves in another tight battle in the final.
"Resiliency, toughness, mental fortitude, brotherhood are all key things we've talked about," said coach
Randy Lee. "Guys really stepped up defensively and did a great job on the glass and paid great attention to a detailed plan."
After scoring the first eight points of the game, Southeastern conceded the next 10 and found themselves trailing with 12:11 left in the first. A layup by
Riley Matticks with 11:08 left in the first tied the game at 11 and a layup by
Reggie Mesidor with 9:50 left gave the Fire the lead back. Those baskets were the start of a 7-0 run that put the Fire up five with just under 9:00 to play in the half.
The teams started exchanging 3-pointers with each team connecting on seven in the first 20 minutes of the game.
The Fire took a 32-30 lead to the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
"We wanted to slow the game down and get quality shots," said Lee.
Southeastern missed their first three shots of the second half, but only trailed by two.
Riley Minix scored his 10
th point of the game at the 17:31 mark of the second to tie the game at 34. His reverse layup at the 16:07 mark gave the Fire the lead back.
Minix was the tournament MVP with 18 points, 13 rebounds and was 6-of-6 at the free throw line. During the first half, he recorded his 1,000
th career rebound becoming just the second player in program history to reach the milestone.
An 8-0 run with six points coming from Mesidor helped the Fire take control of the game with a 54-42 lead with 7:41 left. Out of a timeout, St. Thomas got back within seven on back-to-back baskets but a 3-pointer by Mesidor from the corner off an offensive rebound he tracked down in front of his bench put the lead back to double-digits at 57-47.
"Reggie had a tremendous effort, he's a team player and made some big 3's but also provided some big energy plays and effort," said Lee.
The Bobcats got the deficit to five with 25 seconds left but Mesidor came away with a layup with 17 seconds to go to effectively ice the game.
Mesidor led the Fire with 24 points, going 4-of-8 from 3-point range and was named to the All-Tournament team.
Southeastern held St. Thomas to just 31% from the field and 30% from 3-point range. The Fire were 47% from the field and 33% from long range.
With the win, the Fire have clinched a berth in the NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament First Round taking place March 7
th and 8
th.
