Southeastern fell to the Florida Memorial Lions 84-75 despite a last-second surge of energy falling to 6-7 in the SUN conference and 14-12 on the season.
The Lions started the game off strong going on a 10-0 run in the first four minutes of the game. It was at this point the Fire saw their first bucket coming from
Sean Shore. Southeastern managed to come back after a 10-0 run of their own with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Led by
Reggie Mesidor, Southeastern took the lead with 6:18 remaining in the first half. Mesidor knocked down a three and a pair of free throws during this stretch. However, the lead was short-lived as the Lions scored eight quick points and sent the Fire into the locker room down by four.
The second half was a back-and-forth battle between the teams, neither team was able to pull away. Mesidor again was a huge help for the Fire, recording three of his four steals in the second half all within two minutes of each other. Mesidor was assisted by
Amir Brikat who scored all seven of his points in the half and added on four rebounds.
Mesidor finished with a team-high 21 points, going 4-of-9 from 3-point range and added four steals.
Rebounding was a struggle for the Fire as the Lions tallied up 22 points off second-chance opportunities. The Lions outrebounded the Fire 17-15 in the second half with the Lions able to score 10 points off of their rebounds and the Fire five.
Four back-to-back 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the game by Florida Memorial sank Southeastern into a hole they could not dig themselves out of, despite a last-ditch effort from
Landon Howard off the bench.
The Fire return to action Saturday at home at 7:30 against the Warner Royals in their last game of the regular season.
