#11 Falcons Extinguish Southeastern University Fire

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. - In their first home game in over a month, the #11 Florida College Falcons took down the Southeastern University Fire 89-77 on Friday night in Conn Gymnasium.

Ten minutes in, the Falcons led 24-10, asserting their dominance early on. The Fire cut the Falcons' lead to 8 with three minutes remaining in the first half. The Falcons then used a 10-0 run to take an 18-point lead, but SEU got a layup at the first-half buzzer to trail FC by 16 at the half.

Five minutes into the second half, the Falcons took their largest lead of the night, 63-40 after a Phat Cleveland three-pointer. The Fire didn't go away quietly, and cut the deficit to as few as 12 points multiple times, but could never get closer than that.

SEU's Riley Minix terrorized the Falcons with 35 points and 15 rebounds.

The Falcons featured a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures, led by Phat Cleveland's impressive 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists. Anthony Bittar, Matt Simpson, and Drew Kramer all contributed 13 points. Ethan Smith rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points of his own on a 4-of-5 shooting night from downtown. The three-point line was the main difference in the game, with the Falcons shooting over 40% from three on 16 makes, compared to just 31% for the Fire on 9 makes.

The win puts the #11 Falcons at 12-1 on the year and winners of seven in a row. The next NAIA coaches' Top 25 poll comes out Wednesday.

Up next, the Falcons will take on Truett-McConnell (Georgia) on December 16 at Southeastern in The Furnace for a neutral site game. The next day, the Falcons will take on the (RV) Bethel University (Indiana) Pilots, also at The Furnace in Lakeland, Fla.