Men's Basketball Head to Lake Wales for TSC Semifinals

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Southeastern men's basketball team, who are second-seeded in the Sun Conference Tournament take on Ave Maria, the third-seeded team on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. for the semifinals, which is hosted at Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla.
 
GAME INFO:
#23 Southeastern (20-8, 13-5 TSC) vs. RV Ave Maria (21-8, 13-5 TSC)
Date: February 22^nd, 2019
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Lake Wales, Fla.
 
COVERAGE:
Warner: Watch/Live Stats
 
FIRE FOCUS:

• The Fire is ranked third in the NAIA Division II and ranked first in TSC for Free Throw Percentage (0.790).
• Four members of the Fire's men's basketball team were honored for All-Sun Conference awards. SEU placed four student-athletes, which is the most of any team in the conference.
• Josiah Barsh made First Team All-Conference, averaging 17.56 points and shooting 46.8% beyond the arc per TSC contest. The Tacoma, Washington-native leads the team in Points per Game (16.50) overall in season play.
• Senior point guard Ismael Celestin, junior guard Jeremy Oppenheimer, and sophomore guard Isaiah Moody all earned Second Team All-Conference.
• Celestin averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.94 assists per TSC competition. Celestin also made 90.6% of his free throws against TSC opponents and ranks seventh in the NAIA Division II for Free Throw Percentage (0.878).

 
ALL TIME SERIES:

• In the last 11 appearances, the Fire have won nine of the games against the Gyrenes.

• The last time these two teams saw each other was on February 2^nd, when AMU won the competition with a final score of 86-83.
• In the last AMU victory, the Gyrenes offense was led by Leo Behrend, who shot 23-points, made 9-10 FT's, had eight rebounds and four assists. Three other AMU players scored double-digits as well.

 
THE GYRENES:

• Ave Maria's men's basketball team placed three student-athletes on the honor roll. Behrend, Romello Bates, and Gianpaolo Riccio were awarded First Team All-Conference.

• The Idaho-native, Behrend ranks first in the NAIA for Free Throw Percentage (0.908). He also leads the Gyrenes in Points per Game (19.54), Rebounds per Game (8.36), and Blocks per Game (0.75).
• Another key player for AMU is redshirt-senior, Bates. The Orlando-native leads the Gyrenes and the Sun Conference in Assists (6.11) and Steals (2.26) per Game.
• Bates also has four top 10 rankings in the NAIA Division II, which include fourth in Assists per Game (6.11), fifth in Total Assists (165), and 10^th in Total Steals (61) and Steals per Game (2.259).
• AMU ranks 12^th in the NAIA Division II for 3-Point Percentage Field Goal Made per Game (10.828).
• AMU ranks first in the Sun Conference with a scoring margin of 7.14.

 
TALE OF THE TAPE:
SEU
Points per Game: 79.3
Opponents Points per Game: 74.3
Field Goal %: .490
3PT %: .385
FT%: .790
Rebounds per Game: 32.8
Turnovers per Game: 13.9
Individual PPG Leader: Josiah Barsh (16.50)
Individual Rebounds per Game Leader: Dylan Causwell (6.18)
Individual Assists per Game Leader: Ismael Celestin (3.27)
Individual Blocks per Game Leader: Dylan Causwell (0.64)
 
AMU
Points per Game: 81.5
Opponents Points per Game: 74.3
Field Goal %: .458
3PT %: .376
FT%: .695
Rebounds per Game: 35.4
Turnovers per Game: 12.7
Individual PPG Leader: Leo Behrend (19.54)
Individual Rebounds per Game Leader: Leo Brehend (8.36)
Individual Assists per Game Leader: Romello Bates (6.11)
Individual Blocks per Game Leader: Leo Behrend (0.75)