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Florida Memorial University Athletics

Scoreboard

FMU player
Max Zilberberg
52
Southeastern Univers SEU 10-12, 4-11 TSC
65
Winner Florida Memorial University FMUM 6-12, 6-9 TSC
Southeastern Univers SEU
10-12, 4-11 TSC
52
Final
65
Florida Memorial University FMUM
6-12, 6-9 TSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Southeastern Univers SEU 26 26 52
Florida Memorial University FMUM 35 30 65

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | J.T. Wilcox, Sports Information Director

Lions Earn Big Win Over Southeastern Saturday

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – While basketball has seen its fair share of impactful yet vertically-challenged players, it will always be a "tall person's game", so when Florida Memorial University's men's basketball team trotted out a starting lineup that would've made some NBA teams raise their eyebrows, it was clear what kind of tone it wanted to set Saturday.
 
The Lions started two 7-footers and a 6-foot-9 player, set a new season-low for points in the paint allowed, won the rebound battle, and snapped its four-game losing streak as it earned a 65-52 victory over visiting Southeastern University Saturday night in the FMU Wellness Center.
 
It was 7-foot senior center Mubashar Ali's 20 points and 17 rebounds – his ninth double-double of the season – that led all players in both categories while 7-foot-2 freshman Nicodemo Majuec recorded a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double playing in his first game for the Lions this season.
 
Majuec (pronounced Mah-jook), a native of South Sudan, Africa who played his high school basketball in California, played mostly alongside Ali – serving as the center while Ali moved down to the power forward position. FMU head coach Ansar Al-Ameen elected to play 6-foot-9 Cheikh Kebe with the pair of 7-footers, creating a veritable force field of outstretched arms in the paint and forcing Southeastern to mostly settle for outside shots.
 
And shots weren't falling for the Fire, as they ended up shooting just 30 percent (18-of-60) from the field and 20 percent (6-of-30) from three-point range.
 
Conversely, Florida Memorial – which had been struggling to knock down shots during its negative snide – shot 43 percent from the field but the difference was that the Lions shot 43 percent from beyond the arc, as they drained 10 deep-range shots Saturday.
 
The improved shooting enabled Florida Memorial, which will play a non-counting exhibition game against NCAA Division-I Florida International University on February before it hosts Ave Maria University on February 4th, to take a 35-26 lead into halftime and open up as large as a 17-point advantage late in the second half before the Fire made a couple inconsequential shots in the waning minutes.
 
Ali and Majuec were two of four FMU (6-12, 6-9 The Sun Conference) players to finish with double-digit point totals. Senior guard Aubrey Washington finished with 11 points – going a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range – while Muhammad Gilchrist ended up with 10 points in 13 minutes off the bench.
 
Only one Southeastern (10-12, 4-11) player finished with a point total in double figures – Alowai Talent-Fitzgerald with 13 – and the team committed 16 turnovers.
 
Saturday's victory could've had some positive long-term ramifications for the Lions. It keeps FMU on solid ground in terms of earning one of the eight available spots in the TSC postseason tournament while also securing ownership of the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Fire if the two were to finish with identical conference records at the end of the season.
 
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