LAKELAND, Fla.—After an 0-2 week, the No. 20 Southeastern University men's basketball team looks to get back on track with a slate of two more conference opponents this week. The Fire will host the Warner Royals at 7:30 pm in the Furnace on Thursday before hitting the road to square off against the Webber International Warriors on Saturday.
The Fire couldn't hold on to an eight-point second half lead against Florida Memorial on Saturday and went on to lose 82-73. Riley Minix continued his stretch of strong performances with a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double, and added two blocks and two steals. Minix now leads the team in blocks per game (1.0) and is ranked 50th in the NAIA in total rebounds with 179. Minix's six double-double's is fourth among Sun Conference players.
Senior guard Jeremy Oppenheimer added eight assists to make his season total 106, which has him ranked 15th in the NAIA in that category and is 25th with 4.4 assists per game.
Collectively, the Fire have held opponents to shoot just 39.8% from the field, good for third in the nation. Against Sun Conference opponents, this drops to 38.3% which helps them achieve their conference leading scoring margin of 10 points per game against conference opponents.
Southeastern also continues to rebound the ball well as they are in the top four in the nation in total offensive rebounds (1065) and total rebounds per game (44.4).
When the Warner Royals come to Lakeland they will boast a 16-9 overall record, with a 5-8 mark in conference play. The Royals have struggled of late, dropping four of their last five after starting the season strong. Warner was defeated their last time out by No. 14 Keiser 81-76. Point per game leader Maxwell Benoit scored 28 points in the loss. Benoit now sits at 18.7 points per game which has him ranked 46th in the NAIA. The Royals like to create havoc on the defensive end as they are ranked first in the nation in total steals with 288. Southeastern won 89-82 the last time these two squads met. Guard Blake Morrow led the Fire in scoring with 20 points and forward Karl Jeanty recorded 13 points and four rebounds.
After a visit from Warner the Fire head on the road to take on the Webber International Warriors. Webber has had an up and down year to this point in the season as they have a 13-11 record, going 6-7 in conference play. The Warriors edged out Johnson & Wales in overtime in their last game, winning 83-81. Guard Tommie Luke is among the NAIA leaders in scoring and it showed in this one as he dropped 27 points on 10-15 shooting from the field. Luke is averaging 20.6 points per game, ranking him 24th in the NAIA. The Fire will look to even the score in this game as Webber defeated Southeastern earlier this year in The Furnace by a score of 83-76. Senior Jeremy Oppenheimer totaled 23 points, six assists, and five rebounds in the loss.
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