By: William Burns, Sports Editor
Saint Leo University men’s basketball team kicked off their season on Saturday, November 9th, in Montevallo Alabama at the GSC vs. SSC challenge. The team had already played in an exhibition game in October against USF, but this was the start of their regular season.
With two games under their belt, holding a record of one win and one loss, the Lions have twenty-eight more games ahead of them.
Last year the Lions had a subpar season. They finished with thirteen wins and sixteen losses, while going ten and ten in conference play. The Lions graduated three seniors who saw a lot of playing time. Junior Searcy, a forward, graduated and is now playing professionally in Europe, Danial Duarte, a guard, and Pape Ngom, a center, all graduated for the Lions. Of the trio of graduates, Searcy was the lead scorer, averaging over ten points a game. Ngom led the way in rebounding with just over four a game. Even with this, the Lions are prepared to fill these holes and come back better than ever.
Head Coach Lance Randall is returning this year to coach the Lions. Randall has coaching experience at both division three and division two levels in his career and holds an overall record of 190 wins and 134 losses in eleven years as a head coach. This includes 78 wins and 44 losses while coaching the Saint Leo Lions. Back in 2013 Randall led the team to an SSC title and had back to back 20+ win seasons. Before Randall came to Saint Leo, he was the associate head coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point and helped guide the team to the 2010 NCAA Division III National Championship. He also has experience from Webster University, a professional team in England, and as an assistant at Saint Louis University.
Randall has a good core group of players that played together all last year. With a solid group of returners who all played quality minutes last year, teamwork and continuity should not be a problem for the Lions. Randall should be able to bring the squad together and implement his winning strategies and get the lions another strong season as he has done in the past.
The Lions have a lot to prove this season. In a preseason poll, the Lions were picked to finish fifth in the conference. However, they did receive one of eleven votes to finish first. Last year the Lions finished in sixth place in the conference, but then promptly fell in the first round of the Sunshine State Conference tournament. This year, the nine returning players have an unfinished agenda, and will be fighting to make it farther in the tournament.
The Lions are returning Yalen Reed, Isaiah Hill, Gintaras Bartaskas, Rusty Moorer, Kyran McClure, Wesley Williams, Tyler Carter, Ty Forman, and Malik Fuller.
Yalen Reed started twenty-two games for the Lions and averaged nearly twenty-four minutes a game. Reed shot thirty nine percent from three and averaged just over nine points a game. He also was a relentless rebounder, adding over five rebounds per game to his line. His defense was also tough, as he had sixteen steals and thirty-nine blocks last season.
Isaiah Hill Started twenty-six games for the Lions and averaged thirty minutes a game. He shot over thirty six percent from three and averaged nearly eleven points a game. He added four point seven rebounds a game, eighty-five total assists and forty steals.
Gintaras Bartaskas only started four games for the Lions but was one of their best three-point shooters, ending last season shooting forty two percent from behind the arc.
Rusty Moorer started ten games for the Lions but played seventeen minutes a game. Moorer was lights out at the free throw line, shooting eighty-one percent from the charity stripe.
Kyran McClure was the Lions starting point guard last season and averaged thirty-two minutes per game. McClure was also a sharp shooter, hitting thirty-nine percent of his shots from downtown. He averaged seventeen points per game and dished out ninety-three assists. However, he did have seventy-three turnovers but made up for that with thirty-five steals.
Tyler Carter started twelve games for the Lions and averaged fifteen minutes per game. He shot well from the free throw line, hitting nearly eighty percent of his freebies. Carter averaged a respectable five point eight points per game and three and a half rebounds as well.
Ty Forman has a limited role for Lions as season and started only five game while averaging ten minutes per game. Forman averaged just under five points per game but shot well from the free throw line.
Malik Fuller came of the bench for the Lions and averaged just eight minutes a game. However, with three big players graduating, there are holes that need to be filled on the team so Fuller could see his role increase greatly.
With a new coach and a big group of returners with experience, the Lions are running wild and looking to have an exciting season with lots of wins. Be sure to go out and support your Lions when they play!
