Storm Face NSIC Foes at Hillyard Tipoff Classic

DURANT, Okla – Southeastern men's basketball heads into its second-straight road trip when it travels to St. Joseph, Mo., for the Hillyard Tipoff Classic where it will first square off with Southwest Minnesota State at 1 p.m. on Nov. 10 followed by a 1 p.m. Nov. 11 matchup with Augustana.
 
The Savage Storm opened the season 1-1 with a win in the opener over Northern Michigan, 108-101 before falling in game two to No. 7 West Texas A&M.
 
The Storm offense was clicking over the opening weekend as SE shot 51.1% from the field on its way to averaging 98.5 ppg.
 
Brennen Burns led the offense to the tune of 26.0 ppg while handing out a team-best 5.5 assists per game and shooting 60.0 percent from the field.
 
Cody Klouet joined Burns north of the 20-point mark, averaging 21.5 ppg and adding a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game.
 
Aaron Jacob is third on the team in scoring with 14.5 ppg while adding 5.0 rebounds per contest, with Jett Sternberger rounding out the double-digit scorers with 12.5 ppg.
 
Southwestern Minnesota begins comes into its season opener picked to finish seventh in the Northern Sun after posting a 16-12 record a season ago.
 
Mustang center Jake Phipps was named a 'Player to Watch' in the NSIC this season. Phipps was named All-NSIC second team last season after starting all 28 games, while averaging 13.3 points per game and leading SMSU in rebounding (7.0), field goal pct. (55.1) and blocked shots (38).
 
Augustana comes into its opener picked to finish fifth in the NSIC after putting together a 15-14 record a season ago.
 
Isaac Fink leads the Vikings and was named a 'Player to Watch' in the league after turning in a First Team All-NSIC performance last season that saw him lead AU with 14.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He recorded 20 or more points in seven contests and was nearly automatic at the charity stripe making 88.4 of his shots from the line.