Fire Holds On To Defeat Sky Hawks, 62-60
March 5, 2012
Southeastern Will Face No. 2 Seed Emmanuel on Tuesday
Jacob Hodges stepped up for the Fire on Monday, scoring 17 points off of the bench.
CLEVELAND, Ga.--Southeastern University advanced to the NCCAA South Region Final Four, with a narrow 62-60 victory over Point University, Monday evening. After building a comfortable halftime lead, Southeastern nearly let the game slip away with cold shooting and numerous turnovers in the second half.
Southeastern closed the final 7:14 of the first half on a 19-6 run, to build a 14-point halftime lead (39-25). The Fire shot 48% from the field for the half while holding the Sky Hawks to under 30% from the floor.
SEU (19-13) managed just six points over the first 10 minutes of the second half, as the Sky Hawks narrowed the Fire's lead to just five points (47-42).
The Fire turned the ball over 11 times in the second half, while the Sky Hawks managed to shoot 50% from the floor in the second half.
A basket by Point's Michael Ingle tied the score (56-56) with 3:17 remaining in regulation, but six straight points by SEU's Jacob Hodges helped the Fire build a 62-56 advantage with just 56 seconds remaining. After a three-pointer by the Sky Hawks that cut the Fire's lead to three points (62-59), a costly turnover by SEU gave Point the basketball with 24 seconds remaining, with a chance to tie the score.
Wisely, Fire Head Coach John Dunlap, fouled the Sky Hawks and put them on the free throw line, not allowing them to have a chance to tie the score with a three-point attempt. Point's Chris Cooper made one free throw, and then missed intentionally, trying for the offensive rebound which went off a Fire player out of bounds, giving the Sky Hawks the ball with a chance to win. With just three seconds on the clock, the Sky Hawks were able to get a look from three-point land for the win, as Shasta Scott fired a deep shot at the buzzer that missed, as SEU survived a major scare at the horn.
Hodges led all players with 17 points, as he shot 8-of-12 from the field for the game.
Dwayne Johnson scored 12 points and dished out four assists while Povilas Gaidys contributed 10 points and five rebounds.
Malcolm Pollock struggled from the field, shooting just 2-of-10 from the floor for four points. He did manage to pull down a game high 11 rebounds with three assists.
Point's Jeremy Mahaffey scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
Southeastern will now take on No. 2 seed Emmanuel College, Tuesday afternoon, at 4:00 p.m. The winner will advance to the South Region Championship on Wednesday.
