2019 Men's Basketball Sun Conference Tournament Preview
Ryan Murphy
Tournemant Central | 2019 MBB Bracket (PDF)
AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The 2019 Sun Conference Men's Basketball Tournament gets underway on Tuesday night, as the top six teams in the league begin their quest to secure a bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The action gets started with the quarterfinals on Tuesday, with No. 3 Ave Maria hosting No. 6 St. Thomas, and No. 4 Keiser welcoming No. 5 Coastal Georgia. No. 1 Warner and No. 2 Southeastern have already earned spots in Friday night's semifinals, which will be played on the Warner University campus in Lake Wales.
In the 4-5 contest, Keiser (15-13, 11-7 TSC) plays host to Coastal Georgia (15-13, 10-8 TSC) at Countess de Hoernle Student Life Center. The teams split their two meetings this season, with the home team winning both times. Coastal Georgia won in Brunswick on November 17, 62-59, while Keiser survived a game-winning attempt from the Mariners in West Palm Beach on January 17, 74-73.
Keiser is in search of their third Sun Conference Tournament title, and their first since the 2014 season, when the school was still known as Northwood University. Keiser has been one of the best teams in the conference defensively, holding opponents to 40.5 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from three-point range, both best in the league. Individually, Andrija Matic has been the offensive leader for the Seahawks, averaging 16.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
Coastal Georgia is playing in the conference tournament for the second year in a row after joining the league last season. The Mariners, who earned their spot in the tournament with a final day victory over rival Thomas, are led by Jaylen Smallwood. Smallwood finished the regular season second in the conference in scoring at 19.7 points per game. As a team, Coastal Georgia ranks third in the league, and second among tournament teams, in opposing field goal percentage (42.1 percent)
The regular season champion Warner Royals (21-9, 14-4 TSC) are looking to win their third Sun Conference Tournament in the past four years. Warner, who has already secured a bid to Sioux Falls, leads the league in field goal percentage (49.6 percentage) as well as assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31).In the absence of Khalil Ozuna, Trae Graham has taken over the scoring load for the Royals, scoring 17.8 points per game.
The other quarterfinal matchup sees the third-seeded Ave Maria Gyrenes (20-8, 13-5 TSC) playing the St. Thomas Bobcats (11-15, 10-8 TSC) for the second time in five days. Ave Maria swept the season series from St. Thomas with wins of 87-76 at home and 60-55 on the road, when the Gyrenes rallied from a 17-point second half deficit. The Bobcats, though, hold a 17-3 lead in the all-time series, including wins in the 2013 and 2014 Sun Conference Tournaments.
Ave Maria has won only one Sun Conference Tournament game in school history, and has never been to the semifinals. The Gyrenes, who were picked to finish ninth in the conference preseason, have arrived on the scene partially thanks to a long distance attack that leads the country and ranks in the top 15 nationally (10.9 threes per game). The leader of that charge has been newcomer Leo Behrend, a junior that is averaging 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in his first season of play at AMU.
St. Thomas last won the conference tournament in 2009, and were the top seed in last season's affair. The Bobcats have posted the second best scoring defense in the conference this season, as opposing teams score 72.7 points per game. Five players have scored at least eight points per game on the year for St. Thomas, and guard Daejour Adderley ranks second in the league in assists (4.65 per game).
Awaiting the winner of the all-Florida matchup is another team from the Sunshine State, the Southeastern Fire (20-8, 13-5 TSC). The defending TSC Tournament champs are the top scoring team in The Sun Conference, putting 83.5 points per game on the board. Five Fire players average more than ten points per game, led by Josiah Barsh, who has posted 16.5 points per game on the season.
The two winners on Tuesday will join Southeastern and Warner in Lake Wales on Friday, with the finals following on Saturday night. The winner of the conference tournament will join Warner in Sioux Falls as a recipient of an automatic bid to the national tournament. Should Warner win the tournament, Southeastern would head to the 32-team tournament as the No. 2 seed.?