Thanks to gritty play and timely buckets the Fire are traveling back to Lakeland with another victory under their belt. A team effort from Southeastern downed the Warriors of Webber International, resulting in a 77-74 victory.
The game started slowly for the Fire, dropping behind 8-2 as shots failed to fall, with only the second made shot of the game for Southeastern coming at the 14:23 mark as
Reggie Mesidor made a layup making the game 8-4, this shot contributed to Mesidor's 17-point effort on the night.
It took a while to catch, but the Fire chipped away, slowly gaining on the Warriors and finally evening the game at 30-30 with just over three minutes left in the first half as
Makai Vassell sent one of his two assists to
Derek Murphy who drained a three-pointer building up to his ten first half points which led the Fire at the intermission. Murphy finished with 13 points in the game. A few more Fire stops turned into offense, outscoring the Warriors by two and taking a 39-37 lead into half.
Webber quickly tied the game at 39 coming out of halftime. Both teams proceeded to trade 7-0 runs with the Fire going up 46-39 with 14 minutes left in the second half, the Warriors needed less than a minute to tie it back up.
The Fire then slowly built a lead over the next ten minutes with two dunks. One from
Makai Vassell and another by
Anthony Duncan and a few free throws turned into a 73-65 Fire lead with a minute and a half left in the game. Vassell turned in a double-double leading the Fire with 17 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Duncan registered another clutch performance with 10 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, two of which were on back to back possessions solidifying a Fire victory.
The Fire led by as much as ten with 3:04 left, but the Warriors got it down to the final margin of three with a late layup. Southeastern advanced to 13-10 on the year, and 5-5 in conference play.
Southeastern will host the St. Thomas Bobcats this upcoming Wednesday in hopes of avenging an early season overtime loss at the Bobcats. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
You can purchase tickets
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