Lakeland, Fla. - After being down by 20 points in the first half, the Southeastern University men's basketball team upset No. 19 ranked Ave Maria University by the final score of 66-59 on Saturday night.
The game got off to a disastrous start as the Fire seemed to give Ave Maria a seven minute head start while the Gyrenes built a 14-0 lead.
Southeastern’s first basket came at the 12:53 mark when Jordan Talley made a bucket from the paint.
Ave Maria continued to build their lead over the next five minutes of action with pressure defense which forced the Fire into missed shot after missed shot.
The low water mark came with 7:18 on the clock when Ave Maria’s Mike Coyle made the second of two free throws to put the Gyrenes up by 20 points at 26-6.
After the timeout, the Fire flipped the tables on the Gyrenes and turned up the defensive pressure to force seven turnovers over the next four minutes of action. With each turnover, the Fire converted the quick change into points and when Brandon Moore made a basket from the paint at the 3:38 mark, the Fire were within four points.
The four minute stretch of Ave Maria turnovers and Southeastern baskets made for a 16-0 run and left the Gyrenes with a 26-22 lead.
After huge runs by both sides, each team settled down and Ave Maria re-gained control of the game to take a 34-26 lead into halftime.
The Fire’s balanced scoring attack began to chip away at the eight point lead throughout the opening minutes of the second half and after a steal from Dana Thomas, Raphael Crump drove the lane and was fouled with Southeastern down two points.
Crump made both foul shots and the Fire had come all the back from 20 points down to tie the game up at 38-38. Crump then gave the Fire their first lead of the contest with a jumper at the 13:27 mark.
From there, the Fire slowly took control of the game thanks to their efforts on the boards which led to several second chance points and a rebounding advantage of 29 to 11 in the second half.
It was Crump once again who gave the Fire a six point advantage after he nailed a jumper to put Southeastern up 51-45.
A series of turnovers over the next three minutes from Southeastern allowed Ave Maria to climb back into the contest as they pulled within a point at 51-50.
Jordan Talley and Patrick Ryan answered quickly with a steal and a layup by each of them on back-to-back Ave Maria possessions and the Fire had re-gained a six point lead.
Ave Maria was all out answers from that point as the Fire maintained a comfortable advantage and went on to the 66-59 win.
The Fire were led by Ryan's 16 points. Crump scored 14 points while Talley added 11 points and eight rebounds. Nathan Howard also scored in double figures with 10 points.
The win wraps up a week where the Fire improved to 3-3 in the Sun Conference and notched wins over No. 2 ranked Embry-Riddle and No. 19 ranked Ave Maria.
The Fire leave conference play on Monday night as they host Pensacola Christian College starting at 7 p.m.