Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Texas Lutheran point guard Sterling Holmes has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-South Region First Team, and TLU Head Coach Jimmy Smith has been selected as the South Region Co-Coach of the Year. Full Release
Holmes and Smith led TLU to a 21-7 overall record and to a second straight NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship appearance. TLU hosted a first-round NCAA playoff game in 2016.
The Bulldogs won back-to-back Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships.
Smith was named the SCAC Coach of the Year for a second consecutive year, and Holmes collected SCAC Player of the Year and SCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
Holmes, a junior, led TLU in scoring (16.5 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg), assists (4.0 apg), and steals (0.89 spg). He made .459 of his total shots and .446 of his three-point attempts. He also shot .839 from the free throw line.
Holmes was the only Bulldog to start all 28 games this year. He led the team in total minutes (820), total field goals (133), free throw makes (151) and free throw attempts (180).
A two-year starter for the Bulldogs, Holmes led TLU to an 11-3 mark in the SCAC in 2014-15 and in 2015-16.
Smith completed his second season as head coach of the Bulldogs. Since inheriting a team coming off a last-place finish in the SCAC in 2013-14, Smith guided TLU to a pair of SCAC regular-season titles, two SCAC tournament championships, and two NCAA tournament appearances.
The Bulldogs of 2015-16 posted the best single-season winning percentage (.750) in school history. TLU came within one win of the most single-season victories in school history.
Smith is 39-17 (.696) with the Bulldogs in two seasons.
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NABC ALL-SOUTH REGION TEAM
| First Team |
Second Team |
| Alex Avery, Birmingham-Southern | Justin Jones, Hardin-Simmons |
| Will Trawick, Emory |
Khory Moore, Virginia Wesleyan |
| Spencer Shoffner, Maryville |
Blake Scinta, Centre |
| Anthony Gaines, Jr., Louisiana College | Brandon Brown, North Carolina Wesleyan |
| *Alex Graves, Lynchburg | TJ Cox, Covenant |
| Sterling Holmes, Texas Lutheran |
South Region Co-Coaches of the Year: Jimmy Smith, Texas Lutheran and Chris Graves, Birmingham-Southern
*South Region Player of the Year
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Located in Kansas City, MO, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest "Phog" Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches.
