Offensive Effort Gives SEU Men’s Basketball Georgia Sweep

BRUNSWICK, Ga.— Following an overtime victory against Thomas University on Thursday, the No. 8-ranked Fire men’s basketball squad capped off its roadtrip by shooting an astounding 12-15 from three to capture an 87-82 game at Coastal Georgia. Southeastern is now 14-3 overall and an unblemished 7-0 in Sun Conference play.
After giving up the first bucket of the contest, the Fire responded with eight straight over the next three minutes to take an early 8-2 lead. Jeremy Oppenheimer started the competition on fire from deep, knocking down each of his first five three-pointers to give SEU a 31-26 advantage with 6:38 left in the first half. The junior from Zephyrhills, Fla. scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half of play.
Despite hitting 77.8% (7-9) of their shots from beyond the arc, the Fire found themselves down to the Mariners 37-35 at halftime thanks to a few mistakes. CCGA capitalized off of nine Southeastern turnovers, collecting 11 points compared to only a single SEU point off of four Mariner mistakes.
Coming out of the locker room, the team’s leading scorer took over the game. After scoring only two points in the first 20 minutes, senior guard Josiah Barsh came out shooting in the second half. He collected 16 quick points early in the latter period to put SEU up 62-61 with 12:08 remaining.
At that point, both teams battled, but neither side could take full control of the competition. The game, which featured five lead changes and five ties, failed to see either team take a double-digit advantage.
With the contest going down to the wire, Barsh capped of his 26-point second-half performance with his fifth deep ball to put SEU up for good with only 40 seconds left in the game. Four late free throws by Oppenheimer sealed the five-point triumph.
Overall, Southeastern shot an impressive 15-20 in the final half, including 5-6 from downtown to fend off the Mariners 87-82.
Isaiah Moody notched 12 points (11 in the second half) and Ismael Celestin scored ten to round out SEU’s double-digit scoring efforts on the night.
The Fire will now host St. Thomas in the Furnace on Thursday riding a four-game winning streak. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.