LAKELAND, Fla. – The Fire made up for an early season loss on Wednesday night. Southeastern University netted the final 15 points of the first half and never allowed the College of Coastal Georgia closer than six points over the final 20 minutes of a 74-57 Sun Conference men's basketball win at The Furnace.
Trailing 31-29 with 4:26 remaining in the opening half, the Fire controlled the rest of the contest from there. Joshua Blazquez laid in a bucket and followed with a 3-point play to spark a 15-0 surge for a 44-31 intermission advantage. The Mariners started the second stanza strong and pulled within six points, 44-38, only to see the Fire work it back to 15 points over the next few minutes and never look back.
"Our guys played really hard defensively, especially after giving up 91 at their place," explained SEU Head Coach Hudson Welty. "Our guards did a really good job moving the ball, and our bigs played well together. We finished, as a team, with 22 assists on 29 shots, which was a big difference."
With the win, SEU reached double figures in season wins at 10-12 and improved to 6-4 in the Sun Conference. The Fire evened the season series with the Mariners (7-11/4-5 Sun Conference) after they fell 91-81 on the road back on November 20.
The SEU offense saw five players hit double digits in point production led by Nathan Mikkelson's efficient 18 points off the bench on 8-of-12 shooting with a pair of treys to go with five rebounds and three assists.
"We did a good job moving the ball as we had good motion going where my teammates made the right pass, and I was able to make the right pass," noted Mikkelson. "We came out a little flat (to start the second half), but then we got our energy going and were able to get the ball moving with a lot of assists."
Mikkelson teamed with Kyonte Thomas and Matthew Lentz for 35 combined bench points of the team's 74 total. Thomas drained a pair of triples with 11 points, four rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Lentz chipped in six points, three boards and a pair of helpers.
Diego Platas, though, guided a trio of starters with 10-plus points. Platas downed 6-of-9 attempts and all four of his foul shots for 16 points along with a pair of rebounds and two assists.
Blazquez and Derek Murphy both had an all-around game in the home backcourt. Blazquez contributed 11 points, six assists, five rebounds, and a trio of steals. Murphy had two treys for part of his 10-point effort along with seven rebounds, seven assists, and six steals.
The two squads battled tight over the first 15 minutes as neither team led by no more than three points. Coastal Georgia held a slim 31-29 edge until SEU's game-changing 15-point run.
SEU will try to make it a perfect week when they travel to Webber International on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip-off.
