LAKELAND, Fla.—Leo Behrend was sprinting down the center of the floor on a breakaway steal with 30 seconds left in the game. A layup would tie the game at 84.
Southeastern junior Jeremy Oppenheimer closed in on Behrend, got in front of him and stole the ball to get the ball back for the Fire to help secure a 91-82 win over Ave Maria to improve to 8-1.
Oppenheimer led the way on the offensive end as well, scoring 24 points with two rebounds, five assists, and two steals. He was also 10-of-11 at the free throw line.
“Opp, is a big-time college player,” said coach R-Jay Barsh. “He’s aggressive offensively, which is what we wanted, and he made a big time play against one of the conference’s best players to change the game.”
Ave Maria got the ball back again down by two with 18 seconds left, but were called for an offensive foul. The Fire got the ball to Isaiah Moody, who headed down the baseline, then was fouled by Behrend with the referees ruling it a flagrant. Additionally, the Ave Maria bench was hit with a technical. The Fire converted three of the four free throw attempts to pull away.
Behrend finished with a game-high 27 points, and had 14 rebounds.
The game was tied at halftime at 44, but the Gyrenes (7-5) started the second 20 minutes strong, with a 16-7 run to take their biggest lead of the night with 14:22 to play. A pair of 3-pointers by Jeffrey Steel and back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Leo Behrend got AMU a 60-53 lead.
Southeastern answered with an 11-4 run to knot the game at 64 with 10:41 left. The teams began exchanging baskets with four ties and three lead changes through the balance of the game. A layup in the lane by Greenan Sullivan with 2:06 left gave AMU its latest lead, but Ismael Celestin answered to put the Fire back on top.
“Last year, we had some tough, close games,” said Barsh. “We wanted to make sure we were prepared to close out games with poise. The composure of our guys showed, and our coaches had our guys ready to go. With 2:00 to go, there was absolutely no panic in our guys.”
Celestin finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and was 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. Josiah Barsh added 18 points with two rebounds, and converted 7-of-8 at the free throw line.
The Fire will head to Virginia to take on Regent University on Saturday.