LAKELAND, Fla. (January 19, 2019) – The Webber International University men's basketball team put a scare into No. 11 Southeastern University and led by as much as 11 early in the second half, but the Fire would not go down for the second game in a row as the Warriors fell 84-80 on Saturday night inside The Furnace in Lakeland, Florida.

Webber had the upset bid going for nearly 27 minutes, but starting at the 13:18 mark in the second half, Southeastern went on a huge 24-5 run to turn what was a nine-point deficit (59-50) into a 10-point advantage (74-64) with 6:39 left in the game.

Webber finally stopped the run with a three by Malik Morrow and a layup by Nicholas Blocker, and then two free throws by Rasheem Etienne with 4:30 left made it a three-point game at 74-71.

Next, an and-one by Blocker made it 76-75 with 2:15 left, and then a huge corner three by Jonathan Philistin made it 78-78 with 1:42 on the clock, completing a 14-4 Webber run to comeback and tie it.

Unfortunately, down two (80-78) with just over a minute left, Webber missed a 3-pointer, and then the Warriors were unable to corral the offensive rebound on a miss by Southeastern and were forced to foul, giving the Fire a chance to go up by two possessions.

However, a miss on the front end of the two free throw shots gave Webber the ball down three (81-78) with 23.1 seconds to go, but a double dribble call gave the ball back to the Fire, leading to another foul and two more free throws for Southeastern to go up by five. A fast break layup by Etienne in the waning moments would not be enough.

Earlier in the game, a 4-0 lead for Webber with a sick alley-oop from Tommie Luke to Austin Evans on the first play of the game set the tone that the Warriors were there to play.

It was a back-and-forth first half that featured three ties, eight lead changes, and five made 3-ponters for the Warriors that all tied the game or gave Webber the lead. In addition, the Warriors were benefitted by 16 first-half turnovers by the Fire.

Webber went ahead 38-31 late in the first half on another alley-oop by Evans from Luke, and then the Warriors' largest lead of the half (40-31) came at the end of the opening 20 minutes on two free throws by Blocker, right before the Fire closed the half with a highlight reel dunk.

"I am extremely proud of our guys' effort and execution tonight," said Head Coach Allen Corbin. "We are so close to being a good team. These nail-biting losses are painful, but we can learn a lot from them for the future."

Blocker and Luke each finished with a game-high 18 points for the Warriors while Luke also added seven assists and an over 50 percent mark (8-15) from the field. Additionally, the 18-point effort represented a new career-high for Blocker, a senior point guard from Lake Wales, Florida.

Next in scoring for Webber was Evans with 13 points and Etienne with 12.

Webber fell to 10-12 overall and 2-9 in The Sun Conference while Southeastern rebounded from a bad 34-point loss at No. 22 Warner University two days before to improve to 17-4 and 10-1. All four of Southeastern's losses so far this season have come against nationally-ranked teams or teams receiving votes in the NAIA Division-II National Coaches' Poll.

Webber's final nonconference game of the 2018-19 season is up next as the Warriors host Trinity Baptist College at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 21.