LAKELAND, Fla. - The Fire men's basketball team is coming off a 1-1 Tennessee road trip where they competed in "The Show." In their first of two contests, the men were able to handle West Virginia Tech by a score of 76-66 but fell to #23 Rochester University. This week the Fire will be back on the road again to battle against two talented conference opponents.
Game 7: Southeastern University (3-3, The Sun Conference 0-1) at Warner University (7-1, The Sun Conference 1-1)
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Game 8: Southeastern University (3-3, The Sun Conference 0-1) at Keiser University (3-2, The Sun Conference 0-1)
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The Fire: Southeastern has been excellent this year guarding the perimeter. The Fire rank 13th in all of the NAIA in 3-pt field goal percentage defense (28.7%). To go along with this statistic, the Fire have recorded a 41.9% field goal percentage defense, which ranks 27th in all of the NAIA.
The offense is led by junior forward Wesley Johnson. The 6'8 native of Greenville, South Carolina leads the team averaging 16.3 points per game. Johnson is shooting 62% from the floor and has totaled 30 rebounds on the season thus far.
Harrison Hebert played an intricate part in the Fire's win over West Virginia Tech. Hebert shot 50% from beyond the arc and tallied 15pts with six rebounds. Collectively, the State College of Florida - Manatee transfer averages 11.3 points per game.
Coming off a career high 25 points against West Virginia Tech, Josue Celestin has been a reliable piece to the Fire's rebounding efforts. Celestin leads the team with 35 rebounds; 26 defensive and nine offensive.
The Fire's facilitator comes in the form of Deshawn Wilcox. The senior leads the team with 26 assists. Aiding Wilcox in the assists category is the freshman guard Jeremy Oppenheimer who has posted 18 assists and is averaging 10.5 points per game.
The Royals: Warren Hall is the Royals catalyst to say the least. The two time Sun Conference player of the week ranks 1st in the all of the NAIA in points per game and total scoring. Through eight games, the 6'2 senior from Tampa, Florida averages 38.5 points per game, is shooting 57% from the floor and 42% from the three point stripe. While recording impressive scoring numbers, Hall also creates scoring chances for his teammates as he has dished out 31 assists. The Brooks Debartolo transfer leads the team in rebounding, as well, averaging 7.5 per game and totaling 60 boards.
Coach Sean Hanrahan has been at the helm of the Royals for nine years. As a collective group, the Royals are outscoring opponents in the first half by 86 points. The team is also ranked 5th and 7th in all of the NAIA in field goal percentage and assists per game, 52.5% and 19.1 respectively.
The Seahawks: Keiser University will enter their game against Southeastern after a 64-59 loss against Florida Memorial University. Deion McClenton, the Seahawks overall leading scorer, led the team with 15 points. Overall, McClenton averages 16.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. The junior forward from Columbus, Georgia is shooting a team leading 63.8% from the floor.
Tyrus Weaver leads the defensive front for the Seahawks. Weaver ranks 6th in all of the NAIA in steals per game with 2.6. The senior from Hartford, Connecticut also does his fair share of scoring as well averaging 12.4 points per contest.
Stanley Whittaker, the senior from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania leads the team in assists with 29. Whittaker is the team's main aggressor attempting 81 shots this season and averages 15.2 points per game.
The Seahawks are led by Rollie Massimino. Massimino is best known for guiding the Villanova Wildcats to the 1985 NCAA Championship and has collected 743 wins in his 38 seasons of college coaching. Coach Massimino built the Seahawks program from scratch when he took the helm in 2006.
In closing: The Fire are seeking their first wins against both teams since the 2013-2014 season. In the most recent games dating back to last year the Fire suffered a road loss against Warner in a 97-96 shootout. In last years final game of the season, the Fire suffered an 83-60 home loss against Keiser. However, the Fire will look to build off of their win and experience gained while competing in "The Show" as they take on these two conference opponents.
For updates on all of the action, be sure to follow @SEUFireMBB on Twitter.
