Despite a one-point halftime lead the, Fire were unable to corral the Bobcats to pick up another Sun Conference win, as the visiting St. Thomas Bobcats (18-6, 8-3 SUN) who are leaders in the conference used a late second half run to claim a 72-66 victory over the host Fire (13-11, 5-6 SUN).
   Similar to the previous meeting between the teams, in tonight's contest the Fire claimed a late lead with under ten minutes to go in the game, but were outscored down the stretch.
   Duncan dominated the early minutes of the game scoring the Fire's first eight points leading to a team-leading 19 points, and the second most points for him all season.Â
  Â
Reggie Mesidor added a three after Duncan's initial eight points creating a 11-9 Fire lead. Mesidor ended up with 17 points on 6-14 shooting.
Makai Vassell rounded out the double- digit scorers for the Fire with 11, and also had eight rebounds.
   The game traded scores all throughout the first half, with
Derek Murphy connecting on a corner three putting the Fire ahead by one and then grabbing a steal to send the Fire into halftime up 38-37.Â
    The second half would be much of the same recipe as the first until about one minute left in the game when the Bobcats capitalized on a few empty Fire possessions to go ahead by five, and Milton Matthews extended it to a six point lead, which would be biggest for either team.Â
    Matthews scored 19 as well, tying the game high point total. Four other Bobcats had double-digit scoring and Cearius Warren turned in a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
   The Fire will travel to the home of the Coastal Georgia Mariners this Saturday, the game will tip off at 4 p.m.
Â
