Fire Battle to Hold Their Top SUN Placement this Week

LAKELAND, Fla.- The 13-12 and 9-4 men of Southeastern basketball head into a two-contest week as they host St. Thomas University on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and travel to Florida Memorial University on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest.
 
The Fire have taken five of their last six Sun Conference contests after shooting 45% from the field, most recently a 68-59 victory over Webber International to put them at first place in the SUN.
 
Multiple members of the Fire have stepped up as of their last six contests including Reggie Mesidor and Jalan Mull who have averaged 44.8% and 48.5% from the field. Mesidor has averaged 15.3 points per contest behind a 16-41 effort from distance (39%) while Mull has posted a 40% effort from beyond the arc. Joshua Blazquez has lead the Fire in assists with 19 over a six-game stretch while Riley Minix continues his dominance of the Sun Conference with an average of 22.3 points and 14.3 rebounds per game. The senior has shot 62% from the field and 50% from three-point range while also tallying 19 assists and eight steals over the last six contests.
 
The Bobcats (20-5, 9-4 SUN) are co-leaders in the conference with the Fire and have been victorious in their last three conference games and sit at the top of the SUN offensively and defensively with 85.6 points per game and 70.4 points allowed per game while holding the highest scoring margin in the conference of 15.3. Milton Matthews leads the Bobcats' scoring in conference play with 18.3 points per game behind a field goal percentage of 44%. Dalon Dean has been dangerous from beyond the arc, burying 46 three-point shots for an average of 40.7%. Fred Mulbah leads the conference in assists with 9.3 per contest while Justyn Rogers' 7.7 rebounds per game sits at the top of the Bobcats' stat sheet.
 
The Fire will look to even the season record against the Bobcats after they fell by a score of 66-48 in their previous meeting this season.
 
The Lions begin the week with a 13-12 overall record and 4-9 SUN record and are coming off a tightly-contested 83-82 victory over Thomas University last week. In SUN play, the Lions average 80.3 points per contest with a .433 field goal percentage while Tavin Pierre-Philippe leads the offense with 11.7 points per game. In just five games, freshman Teonta McKeithen has averaged 16.2 points per game with a field goal percentage of 48% and three-point percentage of 46%. On the defensive front, McKeithen also leads the rebounding with five per contest.
 
Southeastern most recently took a narrow 90-85 victory from the Lions to move their historical record to 15-10 all-time over Florida Memorial.
 
To purchase tickets to Thursday's home contest, go to https://southeastern.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx.