BABSON PARK, Fla. (February 8, 2020) – Hosting its second The Sun Conference Men's Basketball Game of the Week in a span of two and a half weeks, the Webber International University men's basketball team again fell in the game of the week, this time falling 87-81 against No. 21 Southeastern University inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.
It was a little bit of payback for Southeastern (19-7 overall, 12-3 The Sun Conference) over Webber (13-13, 6-9) after the Warriors defeated the Fire 83-76 on Southeastern's home floor in Lakeland, Florida, during the first meeting between the two teams this season back on December 5.
While the Fire put five players in double figures in scoring, three Warriors reached double digits as
Tommie Luke finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field and 50 percent (3-6) shooting from three.
Ariel Watson and
Jaylon Myles also both added 15 points while
Chetachukwu Oliver finished with nine rebounds.
It was definitely a tale of two halves as Southeastern outscored Webber 48-31 over the first 20 minutes of the game while shooting 54.05 percent (20-37) from the field compared to 35.48 percent (11-31) for the Warriors.
However, in the second half, Webber outscored Southeastern by double digits at 50-39 and shot 45 percent (18-40) from the field compared to 36.67 percent (11-30) for the Fire.
Additionally, as good as Webber was from the free throw line in the second half, shooting 75 percent (12-16), Southeastern was just a little bit better, shooting 81.25 percent (13-16), including going 8-for-10 during the final two minutes of the game.
After trailing by as much as 21 points four times in the second half and showing very little resistance for the first 28 minutes of the game, Webber finally made its move starting with 12 minutes left to play.
Beginning with five straight points by Watson, the Warriors proceeded to go on a 10-1 run to get to within 12 at 68-56 with 9:17 remaining; and then the run continued as Webber got all the way back to within one possession at 71-68 with five minutes to go.
It was a gigantic 22-4 run in all for Webber featuring nine points by Myles, but as most nationally-ranked teams do, Southeastern answered back with a smaller 10-4 run to take a nine-point lead at 81-72 with two minutes to go.
The Warriors got back to within seven points on a thunderous dunk by Luke (81-74) with 1:58 left, on a layup by Oliver (83-76) with 50 seconds to go, and then again on a 3-pointer by Luke (86-79) with only 33 seconds on the clock. Then, after a steal by Luke with 29 seconds left, Webber had two good looks at a 3-pointer that would have made it a two-possession game with over 20 seconds left, but both shots were off target.
Next up in exactly one week, Webber will remain on its home court inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center to host another Polk County rival for the second Saturday in a row. This time, the Warriors and the rival Royals of Warner University will do battle starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday, February 15.
