GEORGETOWN, Texas – In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior forward James Sapp of Centenary College was selected as SCAC Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year while Schreiner University head coach Connor Kuykendall was named the league’s Coach-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In that same balloting, Trinity University freshman forward Danny Rivara was voted the league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year while junior forward John Hatch of Colorado College was named the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
A three-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week during the regular season, Centenary’s Sapp currently leads the SCAC in both scoring at 21.4 points per game and rebounding at 10.0 boards per game and would become just the fourth player in league history – and the first since the 2007-08 season – to finish atop the leaderboard in both categories in the same season. He became the league’s all-time leading rebounder when he pulled down his 861st career board in a Jan. 21 game against Southwestern and stands at 940 heading into this weekend’s conference tournament. The senior has a league-leading 14 doubles-doubles as well as a league-high four 30-point performances this season, including a career-high 43-point effort against Texas Lutheran on Jan. 22. With 1,526 career points scored, he is just 20 points from cracking the SCAC top 10 career scoring list. In addition to leading the league in scoring and rebounding, Sapp is fourth in free-throw percentage (81.6 percent), fifth in steals per game (1.4) and 10th in field goals percentage (47.9 percent). Having earned SCAC Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year honors as a sophomore in 2014-15, Sapp is just the third student-athlete to finish his career with multiple POTY awards. His former Centenary teammate Jonathan Blount won the award in back-to-back seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14) as did Ryan Harrigan of Sewanee (1996-97 and 1997-98).
Sapp received four votes in the Player-of-the-Year balloting. Senior guard Sterling Holmes of Texas Lutheran University, last season’s POTY, received two first-place votes while a pair of junior forwards – John Hatch of Colorado College and Ryan Ogden of Southwestern University – split the remaining two votes.
Colorado College’s Hatch garnered SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors after leading the conference in blocked shots during the regular season with a 2.4 per game average (19th in the nation). He had a game-high five blocks on three different occasions. A versatile player that can defend multiple positions, Hatch is currently seventh in the league in steals (32) and ninth in total rebounds (148) and helped the Tigers to the second-best opponents’ field goal percentage (43.2) and third-best rebounding margin (+0.2) in the SCAC during the regular season. His selection marks the first time a Colorado College player has earned SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors.
Hatch earned four votes in the balloting for the league’s Defensive POTY award. Junior forward Jayden Holden of Trinity received two votes while senior forward Zach Whitlock of Southwestern and junior forward Harris Jowell of Texas Lutheran received one vote each.
Trinity’s Rivara averaged 13.8 points (eighth in the SCAC) and 7.5 rebounds (third in the SCAC) per game during the regular season – tops among all first-year players in both categories – and tallied eight double-doubles (second among all players). Additionally, he was 14th in the conference – and second among freshmen – in field goal percentage, hitting on 46.4 percent of his attempts from the floor. Rivara, who is the first player from Trinity in the 18-year history of the award to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, is on pace to post the league’s highest scoring average by a first-year player since Jordan Hancock of Austin College averaged 13.9 points per game as a freshman in 2010-11.
Rivara received five votes in the Newcomer-of-the-Year balloting, followed by first-year forward Cooxooeii Black of Colorado College who had two votes. Freshman forward Cedric Harris of Centenary received the remaining first-place vote.
Entering the 2016-17 campaign, Schreiner head coach Connor Kuykendall had almost all the same players back from the previous season when that squad struggled to a 4-10 SCAC record and finished seventh in the eight-team conference - missing the postseason tournament in the process. Fast forward 12 months and Kuykendall's group - with a few new faces as well as one returner back from injury - enters this weekend's SCAC Tournament as the regular season champion with an 11-3 conference mark and the event’s top seed. The seven-game improvement in the conference standings is tied for the fourth-largest single-season turnaround in SCAC history. The regular season title is the first for the school in men’s basketball since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 academic year.
Kuykendall received seven votes from his peers in earning SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors. Andy Partee of Colorado College received the remaining first-place vote.
2016-17 SCAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
James Sapp, Centenary College, 6-0, Sr., Forward, Shongaloo, La.
2016-17 SCAC NEWCOMER-OF-THE-YEAR
Danny Rivara, Trinity University, 6-7, Fy., Forward, Horseshoe Bay, Texas
2016-17 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
John Hatch, Colorado College, 6-7, Jr., Forward, Lodi, Wisc.
2016-17 SCAC COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Connor Kuykendall, Schreiner University, 14-11 Overall / 11-3 SCAC / Top seed in SCAC Tourney
2016-17 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
James Sapp, Centenary, 6-4, Sr., Forward, Shongaloo, La.
Sterling Holmes, Texas Lutheran, 6-0, Sr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
John Hatch, Colo. College, 6-7, Jr., Forward, Lodi, Wisc.
Eric Houska, Colo. College, 6-1, Jr., Guard, Wilton, Conn.
Keenan Gumbs, Schreiner, 6-4, So., Guard, Cibolo, Texas
2016-17 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Travion Kirkendoll, Centenary, 6-3, Jr., Guard, Campti, La.
Zach Behr, Texas Lutheran, 6-5, Sr., Forward, Temple, Texas
Ryan Ogden, Southwestern, 6-3, Jr., Forward, Bellaire, Texas
Blake Kelley, Schreiner, 6-7, Jr., Forward, El Paso, Texas
Danny Rivara, Trinity, 6-7, Fy., Forward, Horseshoe Bay, Texas
2016-17 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
Matt Jones, Trinity, 5-10, Jr., Guard, Austin, Texas
Jordan Kouremetis, Texas Lutheran, 6-0, Sr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Zach Whitlock, Southwestern, 6-4, Sr., Forward, San Angelo, Texas
Phillip Kee, Schreiner, 6-8, Sr., Forward, Killeen, Texas
Chris Molina, Southwestern, 6-0, Sr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Jeremy Swisher (Sr., G), Brian Baehl (Sr., G); Centenary – Treylan Matthews (So., G); Dallas – Michael Sarrat (Sr., G), Darrius Colvin (So., G), Lorenzo Gonzalez (Sr., G); Schreiner – Jared Thompson (Sr., G), Wes Miller (Sr., F); Southwestern – Ben Stiver (Sr., G); Trinity – Jayden Holden (Jr., F)
Coaches voted for 15 places for All-SCAC with 15 points awarded for first-place votes, 14 points for second-place votes, 13 points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a 15th-place vote. All players not elected to the First, Second or Third Team, but who received at least one vote, were named Honorable Mention. Coaches could not vote for their own players.
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