(Editor's Note: With the abupt end to the 2019-20 competition year in The Sun Conference due to the public health crisis brought on by the outbreak of COVID-19, the Sun would like to re-visit and remember the championships that were completed in the abbreviated season. Next in line in this series, men's basketball.)
TAMPA, Fla. — The NAIA Championship Tournament may have been halted early due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but that didn’t take away the shine for Southeastern’s successful 2019-20 men’s basketball season.
The Fire, picked to finish no better than fifth in the preseason poll of The Sun Conference coaches and under the direction of new head coach Kevin Lubbers, jumped out of the blocks and moved to the top of the league this season.
Southeastern sprinted out to a 7-1 overall start and also captured victories in 10 of its first 11 Sun contests. The Fire battled rival Keiser for the top spot in the league standings for the entire season and gave themselves control of the tiebreaker by defeating the Seahawks in both regular-season meetings. Those wins proved to be the deciding factor in the conference race as both teams concluded regular-season play with identical 14-4 conference records. Not only did winning the tiebreaker earn the Fire the No. 1 seed and the home court for the conference tournament, league bylaws also gave the regular-season title to the Fire thanks to winning both head-to-head matchups.
Keiser was also a bit of a surprise contender for the league crown. The Seahawks, also under the direction of a new coach in Tae Norwood, were tabbed to finish fourth in the coaches’ preseason poll. But with eventual Sun Conference Player of the Year in senior transfer Mark Gordon leading the way, the Seahawks jumped out to a 14-2 overall start and won 11 of their first 12 Sun games. The club pushed its mark to 22-6 at the end of the regular season and, while its 14-4 Sun mark matched Southeastern’s, its pair of losses to the Fire relegated the Seahawks to the No. 2 slot in the conference tourney.
The league’s top six finishers earned berths to The Sun Conference tournament, with No. 1 SEU and No. 2 Keiser receiving byes directly into the final four at Lakeland on the last weekend in February. No. 3 St. Thomas moved on to that foursome with a home win over No. 6 Webber International in the quarterfinals, and No. 4 Ave Maria rounded out the top four with a quarterfinal home victory over No. 5 Warner, the conference favorite in the preseason poll.
Southeastern punched its ticket to the conference tourney title tilt with a semifinal victory over Ave Maria, while St. Thomas pulled the only upset (at least by seedings) in the tourney with a win over Keiser.
Southeastern edged St. Thomas, 78-73 in overtime, in the championship game. The Fire had to overcome a 65-60 deficit in the final two-and-one-half minutes of regulation and forced overtime on a Jeremy Oppenheimer layup with just seven seconds left on the clock.
Southeastern had already assured itself of one of the Sun’s two automatic berths into the NAIA Division II national tourney field by winning the regular season championship. When the Fire also won the conference tourney, that gave the league’s second automatic spot to the regular-season runnerup, which was Keiser. St. Thomas – despite losing the tourney finale in overtime and beating league runnerup Keiser in both the final game of the season and in the semifinal round of the league tournament and owning a 22-6 overall record – did not receive an at-large berth in the 32-team NAIA field.
Southeastern’s first-round game in the national tournament was canceled on March 12 when the NAIA put a halt to the event. Keiser, though, did play its opening round contest on March 11 and dropped a 71-60 game to Marian (Ind.).
Prior to the start of the conference tournament, the Sun’s All-Conference teams and special awards were announced following balloting by the league’s head coaches.
The 2019-20 Sun Conference Men’s Basketball All-Conference teams and special award winners:
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 were 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 |
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In addition, five players from The Sun Conference received NAIA Division II All-America recognition. Gordon earned second-team honors and Behrend was named to the third team. Oppenheimer, Brown and Luke all were named to the honorable mention list.