Big Second Half Propels Fire Men’s Basketball to Road Win

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—The Southeastern University men’s basketball team had to survive a strong start from its opponent.
Florida Memorial connected on eight 3-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 13, but the Fire shot better than 70% in the second half to score a 95-84 win over the Lions.
“Our guys are very confident in what we do and we approached the last 10 minutes of the second half with the midset of getting stops and Jeremy Oppenheimer hits a big shot, Josiah Barsh has been consistent, and Isaiah Moody gets us going and gets us to the rim,” said coach R-Jay Barsh.
Josiah Barsh scored 21 of his career-high 33 points in the first half to keep SEU (16-3, 9-0 TSC) in the contest, which included making all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 17 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 41.
The Fire ended the first half on a 7-0 run, then started the second half with six straight points to go up 47-41 with 18:07 left in regulation.
Florida Memorial (2-13) battled back to take a six-point lead of their own at the 13:41 mark of the second on one of Carlie Nedd-Araujo’s eight 3-pointers in the game. Southeastern answered with layups on their next two possessions, then a 3-pointer by Barsh to cut it to one.
A pair of free throws by Linwood Ross gave the Fire the lead for good with just under 13 minutes left.
Southeastern was 22-of-31 (71%) from the field and 6-of-7 (85.7%) at the free throw line in the second half.
“On the road in The Sun Conference, you have to attack the rim and make free throws, and that’s been our M.O. all season, Credit to Florida Memorial, they shot the lights out the first half and we weathered the storm.
In addition to Barsh, Moody was in double figures with 22 points, going 7-of-11 from the field and 8-of-11 from the line. Oppenheimer added 16, and Ismael Celestin chipped in 12.
The Fire return home on Thursday to host Webber International.