LAKELAND, Fla.—Coming off a week in which they defeated Thomas and Coastal Georgia by a combined 43 points, the No. 20 Southeastern University men's basketball team looks to extend their six-game winning streak with two more Sun Conference matchups this week. The Fire travel to Miami Gardens, Fla. on Thursday to take on the St. Thomas Bobcats before returning to The Furnace to host the Florida Memorial Lions.
Freshman Riley Minix continued his strong play this week, recording a double-double in each game. Against Coastal Georgia, Minix wasted no time finding his rhythm as he scored 17 points within the first ten minutes of play. He ended the night with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and tied his season-high in steals with four. Senior Jeremy Oppenheimer impressed as well, nearly tallying a triple-double with 23 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Oppenheimer increased his assist season total to 96, good for 13th in the NAIA, and his assist per game average to 4.5, good for 26th in the NAIA.
Collectively, the Fire defense held the Mariners to shoot just 30.3% from the field, continuing their strong defensive play as they rank first in the NAIA in field goal percentage, limiting their opponents to just 39.4% from the field. Southeastern is also among leaders in rebounds per game. Their 44.9 rebounds per game has them ranked fourth in the NAIA.
The Fire travel to Miami Gardens, Fla. to take on a St. Thomas team that has won three straight contests. In their last time out they defeated the Warner Royals 87-55. Senior guard Justin Brown leads the team in scoring and that was no different against the Royals as he racked up 24 points while shooting 50% from the field and was a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Brown ranks seventh in PPG in NAIA Division II with 23.1 PPG and tenth in free throw percentage shooting 87.5% from the line. Sophomore Jahsim Floyd is the rim protector for St. Thomas, he leads the conference in blocks per game with 2.94. Collectively, the Bobcats rank first in offensive rebounds per game (17.4) and second in total rebounds per game (45.8). The last time these teams met was in the conference opener when Southeastern edged St. Thomas 85-75 in The Furnace. Oppenheimer led the Fire with 19 points while Brown led the Bobcats with 29 points.
On Saturday February 1st at 7:30 pm the Fire will host the Florida Memorial Lions. The Lions haven't been able to string wins together and post a record of 6-14 (3-8 TSC) entering the week. Their most notable win came over No. 24 Talladega College when they defeated the Tornadoes 97-82. Florida Memorial fell to Webber International 80-73 in their last contest. The Lions missed their scoring and rebound leader Mubashar Ali in this one. Ali is averaging 15.6 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game which all lead his team. The Lions are another team that prides itself in grabbing rebounds; they are ranked 18th in the NAIA in total rebounds per game (41.9). In their last matchup, the Fire traveled back to Lakeland with an 80-58 victory. Minix led Southeastern 24 points and 15 rebounds in the winning effort.
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