2009-2010 season review

The end of an era for Southeastern Basketball was the story of the 2009-2010 season. Southeastern competed in their final season of competition within the NCCAA's D-II level. And what a remarkable ending to the era, as the Fire finished with a trip to the 2010 NCCAA II National Championship game.

SEU lost a heartbreaking game to Grace Bible College, 68-65, in the national title game. A late desperation three-point shot came up just short for the Fire and their dream of winning another NCCAA II National Championship.

Southeastern leaves the NCCAA II with one national championship (2005) and six top-five national finishes.

Fire Head Coach John Dunlap, finished his NCCAA II South Region coaching career with a 136-18 record, including five South Region Championships.

The Fire finished the 2009-2010 season with a 24-12 record. SEU will join the NAIA's Sun Conference next year and played a partial Sun Conference schedule this year and went 3-6 versus Sun Conference opponents.

SEU will begin giving athletic aid next season which eliminates the Fire from playing on the NCCAA II level.

The National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association has two divisions, division one and division two. The division one level is for schools that give athletic scholarships; division two is made up of non-scholarship schools. Southeastern will begin giving athletic scholarships for basketball next season, which means Southeastern will no longer be able to play on the NCCAA II level.

Nate Marshall and Malcolm Pollock were both named NCCAA II Second Team All-Americans.

Marshall averaged 17.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game this season as he eclipsed the 1,700 point mark for his career. In fact, Marshall, who will be a senior next year, is projected to become just the second men's basketball player ever to score over 2,000 points in a career at Southeastern, the all-time scoring mark currently held by Andrew Thurber. Marshall needs only 377 points next season to break the nine year old record.

Pollock had a breakout season in 2009-2010, averaging 14.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. He was second on the team with a 54% field goal percentage. Pollock is just a sophomore and is expected to return next season to the Fire.

Junior Paul Austin was also honored last week, being named a 2010 NCCAA II Scholar Athlete. NCCAA Scholar Athletes must be juniors or seniors and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.40 on a 4.00 scale.

This year's Fire squad had no seniors on the team, so next year's team should be even more experienced, with five sophomores, seven juniors, and three seniors expected to return.