SE MBB Ready for UCO, NSU in Opening Weekend

Men's Basketball | 11/13/2014 1:02:00 PM

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will set out north across the state to rekindle a pair of rivalries when they take on Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State Nov. 14-15 as part of the 2014 Stuteville Auto Group MIAA/GAC Challenge in Tahlequah, Okla.
 
The Savage Storm will face UCO at 2 p.m. on Nov. 14 and host NSU at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 15.
 
SE is coming off a 9-18 season with a 6-14 conference mark and a hard-fought 63-58 first round loss to Arkansas Tech in the GAC tournament.
 
The Storm loses is top scorer from a season ago in Urald King, but returns three of its top five scorers from that team.
 
Taylor Smaller is the team's top returning scorer at 11.9 ppg, while also leading the way in assists with 4.1 assists per contest.
 
He will be joined by Darius Harris who averaged 8.8 ppg and is the team's top returning rebounder with 6.9 rebounds per game, as well as Anton Cook who turned in 7.0 ppg last season.
 
Southeastern went 0-3 in its exhibition tour against Division I opponents, falling at Texas Tech 79-67, Texas-San Antonio 101-80 and finally Texas-El Paso 105-58.
 
Smaller posted 24 points in the game against the Red Raiders, while Harris led the offense at UTSA with 21 and Danny Powell turned in 14 to lead the team at UTEP.
 
The Bronchos return six lettermen from last year's 20-10 team that was runner-up in the MIAA Post-season Tournament.
 
UCO lost its top two scorers, but has back three starters in senior Philip Brown and juniors Cal Andrews and Seth Heckart.
 
Andrews averaged 11.0 points and 3.7 rebounds a game while shooting a team-high 39.7 percent from 3-point range with 69 treys.
 
The Bronchos were on the losing end of both its exhibitions, first dropping a 98-83 contest against Oklahoma City before getting upended 110-74 at Arkansas.
 
NSU posted a 16-13 record in 2013-14, but the RiverHawks were picked to finish 12th in the 2014-15 MIAA preseason poll.
 
NSU lost four starters and its top four scorers. The leading returning scorer is senior forward Landon DeMasters who averaged 8.1 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game last season. The RiverHawks are led by first year head coach Jason Tinsley.