Fire Men’s Basketball Defends to Victory

KINGSPORT, TENN.—What a difference 24 hours makes.
A day after giving up 83 points to a team that shot 53% from the field, Southeastern buckled down to limit Reinhardt to a season-low 60 points and 36% from the field in a 74-60 win at the NAIA Division II Showcase.
The best defensive effort of the season thus far was combined with the best shooting night of the season as the Fire hit 27 of its 45 field goal attempts (60%).
Southeastern missed its first three shots and quickly trailed by six, but answered with an 8-0 run to gain the lead for the first time at the 15:24 mark.
The Fire (5-1) closed the first half on a 16-8 run to go to the intermission up 15 (43-28).
Reinhardt hit three of its first four shots within the first 121 seconds of play, but were just 9-for-25 (36%) the remainder of the half.
The Eagles (5-5) got within five during a 10-2 run in the second half, thanks to some timely outside shooting, but Jeremy Oppenheimer and Taylor Breck went on an 11-0 run to seal the game.
Breck had his best game in an SEU uniform, scoring 16 points on a 5-of-6 shooting night, and was perfect from 3-point range. The senior added four rebounds and an assist.
Josiah Barsh also added 16, and had five rebounds and three assists. Oppenheimer (10) and Ismael Celestin (12) were also in double figures.
Southeastern will return to Sun Conference play on Thursday and will host Johnson & Wales at 7:30 p.m.