LAKELAND, Fla.—The Southeastern University men's basketball team returned to action and improved their record to 7-2, winning two of their three games last week. The Fire are scheduled for three more home games this week, including two Sun Conference matchups. SEU hosts the Warner Royals on Monday, December 14
th at 7:00 pm before Ecclesia College and Florida Memorial travel to Lakeland on Friday the 18
th and Saturday the 19
th. Both games are set for 4:00 pm start times.
In their first game in 20 days, Southeastern defeated the St. Thomas Bobcats 88-73 on Wednesday. After surrendering the first basket of the game the Fire quickly regained the lead and never looked back as they led St. Thomas by as much as 34 points. Sophomore
Riley Minix continued his fast start to the season, pouring in 29 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including six-of-nine from behind the arc. In his first start of the season,
Ralph Diaz scored 21 points while shooting 50% from the field.
SEU then topped the Truett-McConnell Bears 108-70 on Friday as the Fire scored their most points in a game this season. Guards
Riley Matticks and Deshaun Osbourne both notched their season-high in points with Matticks totaling 17 points on a perfect three-of-three shooting from 3-PT range, while Osbourne tallied 16 points and converted all eight of his free throw attempts.
Saturday, the Fire dropped their second game of the season in their 96-88 loss to Freed-Hardeman. The 96 points allowed were the most points allowed in a game by Southeastern this season. Diaz scored a season-high 25 points while shooting 10-of-19 from the field. Minix posted 21 points and fell a rebound shy of a double-double.
SEU enters this week as the top scoring team in the Sun Conference, averaging 87.44 PPG while giving up only 70.11 PPG which is the second-best mark among conference members.
Warner travels to Lakeland for their first game since November 21
st when they defeated the Webber Warriors 79-72. Sophomore Rod Boggan has stepped up in his second season for the Royals as he leads the team with 17.3 PPG and 3.7 APG. Warner comes in as the top team in the Sun Conference in scoring defense, allowing only 63.7 PPG. Southeastern has had success of late against Warner, winning five of their last seven contests, but still trail in the all-time series at 10-14. The last time these teams met ended in thrilling fashion as Minix sank a 3-PT field goal with 33 seconds left to give the Fire the 72-71 win. Sophomore
Dylan Patrick led SEU in scoring with 18 points, making all four of his 3-PT attempts.
The Ecclesia College Royals enter play this week with a 2-6 record and are coming off a 93-79 win over Calvary University. The Royals are giving up 89 PPG and scoring only 71 per game through the early portion of their schedule. Sophomore guard Zachary McGee is ranked 17
th among NCCAA players in scoring with a 19.1 average. This will be the first all-time meeting between the two squads.
Florida Memorial carries a 2-5 record into the week with a 2-2 start in conference play. The Lions rank as the 24
th team in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to shoot just 39.8% from the field. Senior guard Sam Mack is the scoring leader for FMU with 13.8 PPG while senior center Mubashar Ali leads the team with 9.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. SEU leads the all-time series 11-5 but dropped the last game to the Lions 82-73.
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