LAKELAND, Fla. – Two players each from regular-season champion Southeastern and runnerup Keiser headline The Sun Conference Men’s Basketball All-Conference first team. Seven of the 10 Sun Conference basketball-playing members had players selected to the 10-member first team. Southeastern earned the conference’s regular-season championship and the first of the league’s two automatic berths into the NAIA Division II Championship Tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker with Keiser. Both teams completed play with identical 14-4 Sun records but the Fire swept both meetings during the season. The two top teams also secured all four of the special awards with Keiser winning Player of the Year and Southeastern supplying the Freshman of the Year, Rollie Massamino Coach of the Year and the Champion of Character award winner.
The selections were made in a vote of the 10 conference coaches and were announced Thursday night at the league’s awards banquet in advance of Friday’s semifinal round and Saturday’s Sun tournament championship game at Southeastern.
Keiser’s 6-5 senior forward Mark Gordon (Eustis, Fla.) was voted the Sun’s Player of the Year. Gordon, in his first season at Keiser after transferring from NCAA Division I Bethune-Cookman, led the conference and was second among all NAIA Division II players with an average of 27.7 points per game. He notched a career-best 42 points in Keiser’s 101-80 home win over St. Thomas on Jan. 16. Gordon was named The Sun Conference Player of the Week a total of six times and did that over an eight-week time frame from Nov. 24 to Jan. 19. He was also named the NAIA Division II National Player of the Week on Jan. 22 following that career-best effort vs. St. Thomas.
Southeastern’s Riley Minix was voted by the league’s coaches as the Sun’s Freshman of the Year. Minix, a 6-7 forward from Vero Beach, Fla., started 14 of 29 games in his first year at SEU and averaged 13.8 points per contest. He came on strong toward the end of the season, scoring in double figures in 14 of his final 16 games and notching a season-best 32 points in a loss to No. 1-ranked Morningside (Iowa) on Dec. 28. Minix posted back-to-back 28-point games in SEU’s critical wins over Keiser and Johnson & Wales in the final two weeks of the season.
Southeastern senior guard Jeremy Oppenheimer was selected as the men’s basketball Champion of Character award winner for the 2019-20 season. Oppenheimer was also named as a first-team choice to the Sun’s all-conference team, as well. Oppenheimer currently holds a 3.5 grade point average and will be the first person in his family to graduate college. In his nomination of Oppenheimer for the award, Fire coach Kevin Lubbers said, “Jeremy is a model for his teammates interpersonally and someone who is invested in the community. He has an impeccable reputation on our campus and in Lakeland. Jeremy is regularly seen volunteering at church on Sunday morning and in the nursery on a regular basis. He attends youth basketball events in Lakeland to support local kids and always sets the proper example for those around him.”
Southeastern’s first-year head coach Kevin Lubbers has been chosen by his peers at the league’s Rollie Massamino Coach of the Year. Lubbers led the Fire to a first-place finish after the club was picked to finish no better than in a tie for fifth with St. Thomas in the league’s preseason coaches’ poll. Southeastern opened the season on a strong note, winning seven of its first eight games. The Fire stood 8-4 heading into play on Dec. 12 but then proceeded to win nine of its next 10 games with its only loss in that stretch coming at the hands of NAIA Division II’s top-ranked Morningside (Iowa). Lubbers took over the reins at Southeastern last summer after coaching at NCAA Division II Colorado-Colorado Springs (assistant) and Colorado Christian College (head coach) in recent seasons.
The Sun Conference All-Conference teams:
First Team
Mubashar Ali, Florida Memorial, F (Jr.)
Chance Anderson, Keiser, F (Sr.)
Leo Behrend, Ave Maria, G (Sr.)
Maxwell Benoit, Warner, G (Sr.)
Justin Brown, St. Thomas, G (Sr.)
Ahmad Gilbert, St. Thomas, G (Sr.)
Mark Gordon, Keiser, F (Sr.)
Tommie Luke, Webber International, G (Jr.)
Riley Minix, Southeastern, F (Fr.)
Jeremy Oppenheimer, Southeastern, G (Sr.)
Second Team
Rod Boggan, Warner, G (Fr.)
Alex Doane, Johnson & Wales, G (Fr.)
Austin Dukes, Coastal Georgia, G (Sr.)
Jahsim Floyd, St. Thomas, F (So.)
Darryl Mercer, Warner, G (So.)
Marcus Montalvo, Ave Maria, G (Fr.)
Marko Orlic, Keiser, F (Sr.)
Dante Pace, Johnson & Wales, G (Fr.)
Fernando Salsamendi, Ave Maria, G (Jr.)
Jaylen Smallwood, Coastal Georgia, F (Sr.)
Player of the Year: Mark Gordon, Keiser
Freshman of the Year: Riley Minix, Southeastern
Coach of the Year: Kevin Lubbers, Southeastern
Champion of Character: Jeremy Oppenheimer, Southeastern
First-team repeat honorees from last year include Leo Behrend from Ave Maria and Justin Brown from St. Thomas.
The following 12 players have been recognized as All-Academic honorees for the 2019-20 season:
| Kase Carrera |
Florida Memorial |
| Jeremy Oppenheimer |
Southeastern |
| Phil Steffens |
Southeastern |
| Jovan Grujicic |
Ave Maria |
| Greenan Sullivan |
Ave Maria |
| Nika Kunchulia |
Thomas |
| Dusan Simovic |
Thomas |
| Lazaro Chamizo |
St. Thomas |
| Lexton Stubbs |
St. Thomas |
| Marko Radulovic |
Keiser |
| Hunter Lonadier |
Webber International |
| Georgy Basheleishvili |
Johnson & Wales |