Preview: Saints look to upset No. 14 Coffeyville
COFFEYVILLE, Kan. – The Seward County men's basketball team will look to win their third game in a row on Saturday, when they take on the No. 14 Coffeyville Red Ravens at 4:00 p.m. inside Nellis Hall.
The Saints (7-3, 3-3) defeated Cowley 80-49 on Wednesday night, reaching the .500 mark in conference play for the first time since 2015. In the win over the Tigers, four Saints reached double-figures – Isiah Small (19 pts), Ke'Sean Davis (15 pts), Mohamed Selmi (14 pts), and Anthony Thomas (12 pts). Small also added 11 rebounds to record his second straight double-double.
Seward's offense continued their hot hand, hitting 52.7 percent from the field, while holding the Tigers to just 24.1 percent.
The Saints attack is led by their two forwards - Small (13.4 ppg) and Davis (12.6 ppg). Small also ranks 3rd in the KJCCC in field goal percentage (.662), while guard Jordan Mitchell is 4th in the conference (.638).
While the Saints rank last in the Jayhawk Conference in points per game, their defense has forced their opponents to shoot just 35.9 percent from the floor, which ranks Seward 1st in the conference in field goal defense.
Coffeyville (9-1, 5-1) is also riding a two-game winning streak following a 97-91 win over Pratt on Wednesday. The Red Ravens are one of three teams with just one conference loss on their season, losing to Hutchinson 99-62 on Nov. 21.
The Red Ravens have three players averaging in the double-digits – Travis Washington (16.0 ppg), Marvin Johnson (12.4 ppg), and Anthony Jones (10.6 ppg) – with another, Cedric Roland (9.6 ppg), just below.
Coffeyville averages 90 points per game, while the Saints hold their opponents to just 61.9 points per game. Seward will look to hold their seventh straight conference opponent under their scoring average.
The Red Ravens and Saints split their series from a year ago, with each team winning at home. While Seward is undefeated against Coffeyville in the Greenhouse, they are just 2-6 against the Red Ravens in Coffeyville. Coffeyville leads the all-time series 11-8.
The game will be streamed on Coffeyville's YouTube channel and can be heard on 107.5 KSCB as Brock Kappelmann (pxp) is on the call.