CONWAY, Ark. - In exclusive voting by the head
coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC),
senior guard Mike Moore of DePauw University was selected as SCAC
Men?s Basketball Player-of-the-Year, while Trinity University head
coach Pat Cunningham was named the league's Coach-of-the-Year.
First-year guard Jeff Mullaney of Centre College was selected as
the league's Newcomer-of-the-Year while senior forward Charles
Houston of Trinity was named the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year
for the second consecutive season. Complete
Release
Moore, the league's all-time leader in assists with 543 and
counting, was asked to score the ball more for the Tigers this
season and the senior answered with a 20.0 points per game average
- good for second in the conference. He also ranked in the top 10
in the league in assists (3.4 - eighth), field goal percentage
(43.5% - 10th), free-throw percentage (82.2% - fourth) and
three-point field goal percentage (41.5% - sixth) and led the
league in three-point field goals made (83). Moore currently ranks
sixth in DePauw history and 13th in SCAC history with 1,479 career
points, and broke DePauw's career three-point mark with 251 makes
from beyond the arc (tied for third-most in league history).
A D3hoops.com preseason all-America and four-time SCAC
Player-of-the-Week this season, Moore is the third DePauw player to
earn the league's highest honor and first since the Indiana Tigers
had back-to-back Players-of-the-Year in 2001-02 and 2002-03 (Mike
Howland and Joe Ringger).
Cunningham, in his 10th season with Trinity, has led the
13th-ranked Tigers to a 22-3 overall mark, a 13-2 conference
record, and the No. 1 seed from the SCAC Western Division in this
year's conference tournament. This is the fourth time - and second
in four years - that Cunningham has been honored as the league's
Coach-of-the-Year. Under his guidance, the Tigers have gone 201-71
overall and 117-38 in league play, which includes three SCAC
tournament titles. Cunningham, who picked up his 350th career
victory in an 86-78 win over Southwestern on Feb. 7, is 353-237
over 22 seasons.
Cunningham received seven votes for Coach-of-the-Year, followed by
Greg Mason of Centre and Bill Fenlon of DePauw with two votes each.
Bill Raleigh of Southwestern University received one vote.
Mullaney averaged 8.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists for
Centre in 24.4 minutes of action per game. The first-year guard
from Louisville, Ky., shot 44.2% from the field, including 43.5%
(40-of-92) from three-point range - good for third in the SCAC.
Mullaney was a major reason the Colonels were able to reload from
last year's NCAA tournament run to finish atop the SCAC East for
the second consecutive season.
Mullaney garnered eight votes for Newcomer-of-the-Year, followed by
Nick Heathscott of Hendrix College and Kory Kilpatrick of Rhodes
College, who received two votes each.
Trinity's Houston was the top defender on the team that finished
third in the league in scoring defense and fourth in field goal
percentage defense during the regular season. Houston, who leads
the league in steals (2.8 spg) and is third in rebounding (8.9
rpg), has also been an offensive threat for the Tigers - averaging
11.1 points per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field.
Houston, who has led the conference in steals the past two seasons,
is currently seventh on the SCAC all-time steals list with 176. The
senior forward from Seguin, Texas, is the first repeat winner of
the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year since former Trinity
Tiger Sean Devins won the award three consecutive times from
2002-03 to 2004-05.
Houston was picked by eight of the coaches as the league's best
defensive player, while Spencer Burke of Austin College, Rob
Bledsoe of Rhodes, Ryan Crowdis of Centre and Chris Sanders of
Millsaps College received one vote each.
As for the other members of the All-SCAC First Team, Moore is
joined on the squad by junior forward Danny Noll of Centre,
sophomore forward Todd Ward of Oglethorpe University, sophomore
forward Luke Caldarera of Trinity and senior forward Andrew King of
Hendrix College.
Noll, a D3hoops.com preseason all-America selection, averaged 15.7
points per game - good for fifth in the conference. The SCAC
Player-of-the-Week in Week 11, Noll is also 14th in the league in
rebounds per game (5.8), fifth in field goal percentage (51.9%),
tied for fourth in three-point field goals made (58) and led the
SCAC in three-point field goal percentage at 45.3%. Noll, the SCAC
Newcomer-of-the-Year in 2006-07, is trying to help the Colonels
earn their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Last season's SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year, Ward picked up where he
left off in 2007-08, averaging 16.6 points (third in the SCAC) and
a league-high 9.9 rebounds per game during the regular season.
Ward, who led the SCAC with 12 double-doubles, is also ranked in
field goal percentage (56.1% - second), free-throw percentage
(69.6% - 13th) and 1.5 blocks per game (fifth). A two-time SCAC
Player-of-the-Week, Ward leads the league in offensive rebounds
with 98.
Caldarera led the 13th-ranked Tigers in scoring, averaging 13.9
points per game (13th in the SCAC) and was second on the team in
rebounding with 7.1 caroms per game (eighth in the SCAC). The
sophomore forward from Katy, Texas, also chipped in with 1.7
assists and 1.3 steals per game and shot 48.7% from the field
(seventh in the SCAC). The SCAC Player-of-the-Week in Week 4,
Caldarera was Trinity's leader from the charity stripe during the
regular season at 80.2% (69-of-86), good for seventh in the
conference.
Despite missing six games to injury, King continued to add to his
impressive career totals this season, averaging 14.7 points (ninth
in the SCAC) and 8.9 rebounds (second in the SCAC) per game. He
also shot 54.4% from the field (fourth in the SCAC). For his
career, the senior from Dallas, Texas, is currently sixth on the
all-time SCAC points scored list (1,597 points) and tied for third
in rebounds (816). King is the first Hendrix men's player and just
the fifth player in conference history to earn All-SCAC First Team
honors three times in his career.
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