BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In
exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward Greg Ross of Centre
College was selected as SCAC Men’s Basketball
Player-of-the-Year, while Birmingham-Southern College head coach
Chris Graves was named the league’s Coach-of-the-Year.
First-year forward Chris Lesnansky of Colorado College was selected
as the league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year and junior point guard
Blaise White of Birmingham-Southern was named the SCAC Defensive
Player-of-the-Year. Complete Release
Despite dealing with double-teams for much of the season,
Ross is currently second the league in scoring at 16.5 points per
game and leads the SCAC in rebounding with 8.0 boards per game. The
senior also leads the SCAC in free throw percentage at 86.7 percent
(111-128) and is sixth in field goal percentage at 52.2 percent
(141-270). He has recorded six double-doubles this season and has
led Centre in scoring 11 times and rebounding 13 times. In a
signature win over sixth-ranked Cabrini College, Ross hit a free
throw with no time left to send the game into overtime, then hit
two more free throws with no time left in the overtime period to
win the game.
A three-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week selection during the season,
Ross received four Player-of-the-Year votes in perhaps the closest
balloting ever for the league’s highest honor. Rhodes
College’s Andrew Galow also received four votes while Zac
Richards of Birmingham-Southern picked up three first-place votes.
Colorado College’s Ryan Milne, who finished second overall in
the POTY balloting, received the remaining first-place vote.
Chris Graves, in his first season as the Panthers’ head
coach, has led his team to a 24-1 overall mark (15-1 in the SCAC)
and a current national ranking of ninth – the highest
national ranking for a SCAC men’s team since Trinity
University reached No. 8 in Jan. 26, 2009. Graves served as an
assistant at Birmingham-Southern for three years prior to taking
over as head coach, during which time the Panthers started their
current 42-game home winning streak (heading into this
weekend’s SCAC tournament).
The first men’s basketball coach in his inaugural head
coaching season to win SCAC Coach-of-the-Year, Graves received six
votes from his peers for the award. Pat Cunningham of Trinity, Mike
DeGeorge of Rhodes and Bubba Smith of Sewanee-The University of the
South received two votes each.
Colorado College’s Lesnansky has started all 24 games in his
rookie campaign, averaging 11.5 points (20th in the SCAC) and 6.3
rebounds (eight in the SCAC) per game – tops in both
categories among the league’s first-year players. He led the
team in scoring five times, shot a team-best 44.6 percent from the
floor and recorded his two double-doubles in the team’s last
four regular season contests. He is the second consecutive Colorado
College men’s player to earn the league’s
Newcomer-of-the-Year honor – following teammate Ryan
Milne.
Lesnansky garnered seven votes in the league’s
Newcomer-of-the-Year award balloting, surpassing the four votes
received by Josh Karsner of Centre College. Aaron Wyatt of the
University of Dallas received the remaining vote.
Heading into this weekend’s conference tournament,
Birmingham-Southern leads the SCAC in steals and turnover margin,
largely due to the play of point guard Blaise White, who was
selected the league’s Defensive Player-of-the-Year. One of
the best on-ball defenders in the league, White leads the league in
steals (54) and steals per game (2.2). The heady junior also has 95
assists while committing just 42 turnovers – posting a
league-best 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio during the regular season
for the Panthers. His 3.8 assists per game is good for fourth in
the SCAC.
White picked up five first-place votes for Defensive
Player-of-the-Year while Jeff Mullaney of Centre received three
votes and Ryan Beall of Trinity earned two votes. Ammon Martin of
Hendrix and Ransom Okpala of Austin College each received one
vote.
For the complete release, click here.