Lions Home Opener – Double up: Men and Women both Win

By on November 12, 2011

St. Leo, Fla. – All the storylines were in place last night for the Saint Leo University Lions basketball programs.  First year coaches Nikki Jessee for the women and Lance Randall for the men, with the Marion Bowman Activities Center deck to the nines and it was even “Fritz the Lion’s” birthday.

The women opened the day with an impressive win over the University of West Florida 63-56.  Chelsea Williams, the sophomore forward from West Palm Beach paced the Lions with 15 points.  The Lions was especially aggressive on the defensive end of the floor in the second to give coach Jessee a win in her inaugural game as Lions head coach.

In the second game the Lion men took the floor with first head coach Lance Randall.  Some would say that it’s a rebuilding year for the program as the Lions return only 3 players from last year.  Coach Randall with a division III championship on his resume at Wisconsin Stevens-Point is looking to win now and bring the championship mentally to the Saint Leo University campus.

The lions are out to prove they can win now as they beat the Southeastern University Fire 64-53.  Point guard Marcus Ruh had 15 points with 8 defensive rebounds but the impressive stat was no turnovers.  Ruh, who voted the Rocket Sports & Entertainment player of the game, said afterwards of controlling the tempo and breaking the press, “We worked hard in practice; we knew they were going to do some zone presses.  Just stay calm and recognize what they were in and find the open man.”

Coach Randall was pleased with the way the team responded and said, “Marcus is a heck of a point guard but it’s a lot on him to play 35 minutes and handle the ball as h did.  I was really pleased the way our guys let the offense come to them.”

Lions forward Tom Neary shot 50% from the floor (5-10) and had 14points.   Dwayne Johnson and Chris Carlyle each had 11 points apiece in a losing effort for the Fire.

The Lions men host Southern Poly Tech today at 4pm which can be heard here on www.rocketsports-ent.com and WDCF 1350am Dade City-Zephyrhills.  The women play next at home versus Valdosta State on November 19th.

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