SEU Men’s Basketball Holds off Warner in Top 25 Showdown

LAKELAND, Fla.—A match between two Top 25 teams came down to the final few possessions.
A 3-pointerd by Ismael Celestin with 23 seconds to play broke a 79-79 tie and helped the Fire come away with an 86-81 win over Warner at The Furnace Saturday afternoon.
The Royals were able to get the game down to one with a pair of free throws, but Celestin cashed in on a pair of charity tosses of his own on the ensuing possession.
“We made plays, they made plays, but I’m so proud of the guys on our sideline,” said coach R-Jay Barsh. “We look for guys who play in the moment and make big plays.”
Celestin finished with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals, and was 6-of-7 at the free throw line.
The Fire used a 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of the day at 61-52 with 15:48 to play, with a 3-pointer by Josiah Barsh concluding the run. Barsh finished with a game-high 23 points, going 8-for-8 at the free throw line, and added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Jeremy Oppenheimer got the Fire going by scoring the first six points of the night on back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 60 seconds of play. He finished with 13 points, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
A 15-3 run by Warner gave the 19th ranked Royals an 18-11 advantage with 14:08 to go, but the Fire answered with layups by Celestin and Dylan Causwell and a 3-pointer by Barsh to tie the game.
Causwell was also in double figures with 10 points and had five rebounds. Isaiah Moody added 10 off the bench.
Southeastern finished the game 44% from the field and connected on 24 of 30 free throw attempts.
“We wanted to get to the rim and get to the double bonus early,” said Barsh. “In the second half, Warner did a great job of clogging the paint and we made some shots when it mattered.”
The Fire will head to Rollins for an exhibition on Monday before hosting Franklin College on Tuesday.