LAKELAND, FLA.-- The regular season is drawing closer to the end, and it's time for the Southeastern men's basketball team to see what they're made of. The Fire saw a mixed bag of results last week; they handled Ave Maria with relative ease, but then went to Miami and were upset by Florida Memorial.
The top six teams move on to The Sun Conference Tournament. Out of the nine teams in the conference, Southeastern is hovering on the edge of the fifth place spot. To secure their place in the tournament, the Fire will have to win at least one of their next two games; they're scheduled to play the Thomas University Night Hawks on Wednesday night and the Webber International University Warriors on Saturday.
Last week against Ave Maria, the Fire jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back.
Larry Taylor scored 17 and
Isaac Barsh scored 11. Southeastern was also aided by the return of
Elijah Ray, who scored 10 points off the bench in the 82-57 win.
The contest against Florida Memorial was relocated to North Miami on the campus of Johnson & Wales. These two teams faced off against each other a couple weeks before, and the Fire squeaked out a two-point victory. Southeastern had to sweat it out in the final seconds, as the Lions were able to get three shots up in the final seconds, but none of them fell.
From the opening tip, Florida Memorial looked to get their revenge. The game saw 11 ties and nine lead changes; Southeastern held a slim lead with as little as 3:28 left in the game, but the defense was unable to hold the Lions back any longer as they broke free and distanced themselves from the Fire, who lost 76-72.
Time is running out on the regular season; the Fire have conference games at Thomas and Webber International.
Thomas and Southeastern last faced off on January 14th. The Fire ran away with a 94-69 win as Taylor and
Jake Hodges scored 20 and 22 points respectively.
Matt Crowe and
Caleb Konieczny each scored 15, and
Linwood Ross scored 10. The Fire will look to continue their solid play against the Night Hawks Wednesday night in Thomasville; Thomas is 10-14 overall so far this season and 4-7 in conference play. Thomas currently holds the sixth and final seed in the Sun Conference tournament and will look to secure a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.
Javoris Cooks serves as the catalyst for the Night Hawk offense. He's averaging 14 points per game. Mike Lyons is scoring 11.4 PPG while leading the team in assists (88) and steals (23).
On Saturday, the regular season will come to a close as Southeastern travels across the county to Babson Park to take on Webber International. The Warriors are 9-17 overall and 3-10 in conference play. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
Daniel Coffey leads the Warrior offense with 14.8 PPG. The team ranks seventh in the nation in blocks, as the defense is anchored by Dewaine Lyals. Lyals 2.4 blocks per game, good for fourth in NAIA Division II. He is also averaging 7.5 rebounds per game.
You can follow the Fire on Twitter at @SEUFireMBB for updates.
