LAKELAND, Fla.—It seems as if things are different for the Southeastern men's basketball team.
The Fire went through a stretch in December which saw them go 1-4, but have bounced back to win four straight and sit at 10-5 on the season.
Southeastern went 2-0 at The Athlete's Meals Classic in Miami against Siena Heights and the University of the Virgin Islands, and followed that with a 2-0 showing at the English Family Classic in West Palm Beach with wins over Florida National and Northern New Mexico.
"We have played inspired basketball, our guard play has been consistent and the new group of players have built a level of trust that comes with facing early season adversity," said coach
R-Jay Barsh. "We have shot the ball well but defensively we have found ways to get stops when they matter the most. Senior leadership from
Jake Hodges and
Larry Taylor have showed immensely in being able to close out tough games."
Sun Conference play resumes tonight, and will consume the balance of the season. Wednesday, the Fire host Warner at 7:30, then will travel to St. Thomas on Friday for an 8 p.m. tipoff.
Warner enters the contest ranked 10th in the latest NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Top 25, and sit at 10-3 on the season. Most recently, the Royals suffered a 73-66 loss to Pikeville, which is ranked first in the NAIA Division I poll. During the Christmas break, Warner scored major wins over Bethel and Olivet Nazarene; both were ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the game.
"Warner is well-coached and very disciplined. Coach Hanrahan has done a great job getting his team to play a certain brand of mistake free basketball," said Barsh of the Royals. "They don't gamble and they only turn the ball over 10 times a game. They have two players who will likely be first team all-conference in Warren Hall and Eddie Delegal. Stopping those two has been problematic for most teams."
Delegal is fresh off of Sun Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 23 points and 9.3 rebounds over three games. Hall is the team's leading scorer at 23.8 points per game.
Friday, the Fire will travel to St. Thomas to take on the Bobcats, which were picked as the favorites to win the league in the preseason poll. The Bobcats are currently 7-5 on the season. Michael Walker ranks ninth in NAIA Division II in steals per game at 2.4, and 29
th in assists per game at 4.7.
Visit the
schedule page for live video and stats links for this week's games.
