MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. | No. 25 Florida Memorial earned a trip to the 2024 SUN Conference Men's Basketball championship game with a 92-87 victory over Ave Maria at the Fernandez Family Center. With the win, the Lions improve to 23-6 overall and will face their crosstown rival, the one-seed St. Thomas, on Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Despite giving up a total of 19 three-pointers, the two-seed FMU found a way to dig deep and hold on for the thrilling victory.

"First off, Ave played a great game," said first year head coach Delano Thomas. "It could have easily went either way, but I felt like our guys towards the end had the will to win. They really wanted to win, and blessings came our way. We we able to weather that storm from those 19 three's."

First-team All-SUN selection Latavious Mitchell was marvelous all night, finishing with a double-double as he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 boards. Mitchell nearly went perfect from the charity stripe, burying 9-of-10 free throws. Teammate Derrius Ward also produced a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while hitting multiple key shots down the stretch.

"I'm really proud of my guys to be able to get to this moment," Thomas explained.

With the score virtually tied throughout most of the early portions of the contest, FMU sharpshooter Jaiden Guice, who earned the nickname "Juice", nailed 6-of-10 from downtown, giving FMU a seven-point cushion at the half. Guice tied a team-high with 21 points while fellow Lion Evan Busby added 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. He also grabbed seven boards and dished out three assists in the monumental semifinal victory.

For more information regarding the SUN Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, click here.

Click here to purchase tickets to Saturday night's SUN Championship between rivals FMU and St. Thomas.