LAKELAND, Fla.—The Southeastern men's basketball team showed why it was one of the top defensive teams in the NAIA during The Sun Conference Championship game.
The Fire held St. Thomas to just 1-of-8 from the field in overtime and just 43% for the game in a 78-73 overtime win to claim the tournament crown for the second time in three seasons.
Southeastern (23-8) tied the game at 60 with 4:29 to play on a
Karl Jeanty dunk. The Bobcats regained the lead with a free throw at the 3:53 mark of the half and led all the way until the last possession of regulation.
A layup by
Jeremy Oppenheimer with just under six seconds to play tied the game at 68 and sent it to the extra session. St. Thomas attempted a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but was unsuccessful.
Oppenheimer kicked it into another gear in overtime during his final five minutes in The Furnace, scoring five of SEU's 10 points in the extra session, including a 3-pointer from the left wing with six seconds left to seal the game.
"It's been an incredible ride, and I'm glad I went out the right way," said Oppenheimer. "The coaches and players kept telling me to keep going after I missed some shots and they trusted me to bring the game home."
The senior finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in 43 minutes.
"I thought our guys competed for 45 minutes, and that's all we talked about—compete and execute," said coach
Kevin Lubbers. "Our players won this game by executing and coaches just get out of the way in a game like this."
After trailing by nine early in the game due to a hot start by the Bobcats (22-6), Southeastern settled in and got to the free throw line and finished the game 21-of-28 at the charity stripe.
Additionally, the Fire got three of St. Thomas's top scorers into foul trouble and fouled out during the second half.
Riley Minix was tough to stop, finishing with a game-high 31 points, and had four rebounds, a three steals, a block, and an assists to earn Tournament MVP recognition.
"Everything is falling into place right now and we couldn't be happier," said Minix. "Basketball is a game of runs and that's what Coach instilled into us. We all bought in, and kept grinding and kept going when we were down."
Down nine with 13:52 to go in the first, the Fire went on an 18-3 run over the next 7:15 to take a 26-20 lead. The Fire also scored the last six points of the first half, including a tip in at the buzzer by Minix to put the Fire up 34-25 at halftime and give SEU its biggest lead of the game.
The Bobcats came out of the locker room strong, going from down nine to up one in just over three minutes. Southeastern was able to rally back and hold an eight-point lead with 11:16 left on a three-point play by Minix.
Despite trailing by five with 2:52 left, the Fire got a pair of free throws from Oppenheimer and a layup by
Isaiah Moody who cut to the basket to receive a pass from Oppenheimer to make it a one-point game with 2:03 left.
Moody came up with some key plays at both ends of the floor, including drawing a couple of charges late in the game, and finished with nine points, four rebounds, and four assists.
The Fire will learn their NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament draw on Wednesday.
2020 Sun Conference All-Tournament Team
Leo Behrend, Ave Maria
Mark Gordon, Keiser
Ahmad Gilbert, St. Thomas
Justin Brown, St. Thomas
Jeremy Oppenheimer, Southeastern
MVP --
Riley Minix, Southeastern
