SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—It's a familiar position for the Southeastern University men's basketball team in the NAIA Division II National Championship tournament.
In both of SEU's previous national tournament appearances, the Fire have been the lower seeded team.
The same is true in 2019 as the Fire enter the tournament with a 20-9 record and received an at-large bid. Southeastern is the No. 6 seed in the Liston Bracket and will take on No. 3 seed Jamestown on Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time.
Southeastern is looking to erase the memories of a rough shooting day at the Sanford Pentagon last year against Warner Pacific when the Fire were just 9-of-31 in the second half, and finished the game 35.4% from the field in a 68-57 loss.
Three players that combined for 64 minutes of playing time in that game are back this season. The leadership of
Jeremy Oppenheimer and
Josiah Barsh along with
Ismael Celestin will be key in having the Fire ready to play against one of the top offensive teams in the country.
Jamestown is 13-2 since the calendar flipped to 2019, with a 16-point loss to tournament participant Briar Cliff, and a three-point loss to Dordt. The Jimmies also knocked off GPAC regular season champion Morningside in Sioux City, 86-84.
The GPAC Tournament champions rank third in points per game at 92.4, and rank sixth in field goal percentage at 50.3%.
The Jimmies are led by a pair of All-GPAC seniors in Jon Purintun and Kevin Oberweiser, which both average better than 19 points per game. Each also has registered 100+ assists and 100+ made free throws this season. Oberweiser had 20 points in the title game against Morningside, and has connected on 116 3-pointers this season. Purintun has nine games with 25 or more points, including a 45-point night with 18 made field goals against Valley City State on December 15
th.
The Liston Bracket may be the toughest of the four with Oklahoma Wesleyan as the top seed with Spring Arbor the No. 2 and Crossroads League foe Bethel joining No. 4 seed IU East. Indiana Tech, which Southeastern hosted and defeated on December 18
th is also in the bracket.
With a win, the Fire would take on either Spring Arbor or Indiana Tech on Friday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern in the Round of 16.
