WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Florida Memorial University erased a 20-point, second-half deficit – cutting it down to just three with 10 minutes to play, but couldn't rally all way back as the Lions fell 88-80 to host No. 17 Keiser University Thursday night on KU's Massimino Court.
The Lions trailed by 13 at halftime and that hole grew to as large as 20 (59-39) not even five minutes into the second half, before FMU began to claw its way back into the game. Florida Memorial went on a 23-6 run (including a 10-0 spurt at one point) over a five-minute span, to pull within 65-62 with 9:51 left in the second half.
That would be as close as the Lions would get. Keiser University pushed its lead back out to 13 with just under seven minutes to play before en route to staving off the Lions the rest of the way.
Thursday loss all but closed the door the Florida Memorial's hopes of reaching the Sun Conference postseason tournament. The Lions (9-17, 6-11 Sun Conference) were already behind the proverbial eight ball as they sat in a three-way tie for the sixth seed – and final qualifying spot – in the conference standings needing to win their final two games to at least stay in the hunt mathematically, and facing the daunting task of trying to upend the ranked Seahawks on their home floor proved to be too much.
Junior
Quvondo Johnson led the charge for FMU, which will close out its season Saturday (Feb. 22) at home against rival Johnson & Wales University, with 17 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action. 6-foot-9 forward
Cheikh Kebe notched a double-double of 15 points (on an efficient 5-for-6 from the field) and 12 boards, Freddy Reeves added 14,
Omar Outar chipped in with 13, and
Mubashar Ali finished with 11 points and just five rebounds.
While Florida Memorial had five players finish with double figure points, Keiser University (22-5, 14-3) got its typical production from their senior guard and Sun Conference leading scorer Mark Gordon, who finished right on his average of 29 points.
Once again, Gordon did most of his damage from the free throw line, where he made 11 of his 12 attempts, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Gordon's big night was also bolstered by the fact the Seahawks also double-digit point totals from three other players.
