LAKELAND, Fla.— The Southeastern University men's basketball team is set take on top-seeded Warner University in the quarterfinals of the Sun Conference tournament on Tuesday, February 22
nd at 7:00 pm in Lake Wales.
The Fire clinched a spot in the conference tournament with their win 75-72 over Ave Maria last week on Thursday. After taking a three-point lead into halftime the Fire stretched their lead to 14 midway through the second half before hanging on for the narrow win.
Riley Matticks and
Karl Jeanty led SEU in scoring with 16 points apiece while
Alaowei Talent-Fitzgerald and
Reggie Mesidor contributed 15 and 14 points off the bench, respectively. Freshmen Deshaun Osbourne and
Sean Shore added a combined ten points and ten assists to help the Fire pull off the upset victory.
Southeastern struggled to find their rhythm offensively in their 59-50 loss to Thomas on Saturday.
Devon Ford led the team with 11 points. The Fire shot 35.7% as a team from the field and made just six of their 25 attempts behind the arc.
This will be the fourth meeting of the season between SEU and Warner as the Fire look to notch their first win against the Royals this season. Last time Southeastern traveled to Lake Wales the Fire lost by six points. The Fire had a lead with 1:21 to go in the game before the Royals scored the last seven points of the game.
Matticks has had success against Warner in the previous two outings with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Mesidor scored a season-high 24 points in the first matchup against Warner this season.
Defensively, the Fire will look to shut down guard Rod Boggan. Boggan eclipsed 30 points with 31 in the last matchup between the two squads as he shot seven-of-nine from the field and made 14 of his 15 free-throw attempts.
The Royals hold the edge in the all-time series 17-10.
The winner of this game advances to the semifinals to play either St. Thomas or Thomas University on Friday.
