Saint Leo, Fla—The Saint Leo University men’s basketball team earned a huge conference win on Saturday, Jan. 26 over Sunshine State Conference for Barry University after a strong second half in which it overcame a 9-point halftime deficit. Despite Barry’s hot start and Saint Leo’s meager first-half performance, the Lions came out on top 63-51. The win moved the Lions to 9-9 overall and 3-5 in the SSC.
The Sports Marketing Association is a form of marketing in which brands use mainstream or alternative sports to connect with both abroad and/or a targeted group of consumers. This is a worldwide organization that schools from all over travel to attend annually.
A Saint Leo tradition for many years, Moonlight Madness signals the start of a brand new basketball season. Usually, the event is filled with special performers and big prizes. This year, the Student Government Union and the Athletics department decided to go for a simpler and more interactive event for fans and teams alike. The result was a Moonlight Madness that many students found more enjoyable than the previous year.
A 112-5 vote on Saturday, Sep. 29, ended the NFL referee lockout. The officials were returned to the job that is full of disagreements, unruly fans, and split-second decisions.
Jeff Gray, former Saint Leo University student and 2012 graduate, was named the general manager of the Bluefield Blue Jays on Saturday, Sep. 22, as announced by club president George McGonagle.
The Sport Business Program has partnered with the National Sports Forum to form a Sport Business Speaker Series for not only Sport Business students, but the entire Saint Leo community. The partnership will create an opportunity for all that are interested to listen and learn from some of the best professionals in the sport business world. Speakers will join the conferences either by way of video chat or live appearance in TECO Hall inside the Donald R. Tapia School of Business and will speak about their area of expertise in addition to answering any questions that students may have.
The Saint Leo University Lions softball team has been swept in two consecutive conference series. The Lions got swept in a three-game series by Nova Southeastern University and followed it up over Easter weekend by getting swept by Florida Tech at home. The losses move the Lions’ record to 17-28 on the year and 2-13 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Lions lost 3-2 and 5-1 on Thursday night and got beat 10-2 on Friday making it their eighth loss in a row.
Bagdad, Fla. native, Bubba Watson, won the 2012 Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Ga. which took place from April 5-8. Watson beat South African, Louis Oosthuizen in a two-hole playoff. The pair were tied after both players pared the 18th hole and remained at 10-under. After both pared the 18th again on the first hole of the playoff, on hole No. 10 Watson hit his tee shot well into the woods putting Oosthuizen in a great position to win the hole. But Watson followed up his disastrous tee shot with a brilliant one. With only a narrow window to work in, and his Masters hopes on the line, Watson struck the ball beautifully, hooking it just enough to land it on the green. Oosthuizen then missed a difficult putt that would have saved par, which set up Watson’s eventual tap-in for the win.
Despite signing a five-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts prior to the 2011 season, Peyton Manning finds himself with a new team heading into 2012. Manning signed a new five-year deal with the Denver Broncos, ending one of the most interesting free agency sagas since Brett Favre came out of retirement.
The field for this weekend’s Final Four in New Orleans has been set after some entertaining games in this past weekend’s Elite Eight. In the West Regional Final Louisville (30-9) knocked off Florida to advance to the Final Four for the ninth time in school history and its first since 2005. The Big East champions have now won eight games in a row with their last loss coming Mar. 3 against Syracuse. Rick Pitino’s squad beat No. 1 seed Michigan State on Mar. 22 to advance to the Elite Eight, then beat the No. 7 seed Florida Gators to earn their trip to the Final Four. The Cardinals will face off against in-state rival Kentucky in the national semi-finals on Mar. 31. The two teams did play each other in Lexington back in December and the Wildcats got the better of that game beating Louisville 69-62.
