SHERMAN, Texas -- In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior guard Christian Alaekwe of University of St. Thomas was selected as SCAC Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year while Schreiner University head coach Marwan Elrakabawy earned SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors. Complete Release
In that same balloting, Schreiner first year forward Kamden Ross was voted the league’s First-Year Player-of-the-Year award while senior guard Cameron Gims of St. Thomas was named SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year for the third consecutive year.
Alaekwe, a native of Fresno, Texas, led all conference players in scoring during league play, averaging 18.8 points game in just 28.6 minutes played per contest. His overall scoring average of 15.3 points per game was third in the conference. The senior also led the league in three-point field goals made (60) and was fifth in three-point field goal percentage (38.0 percent), eighth in steals (33) and 13th in blocks (17). He scored in double figures in 15 of 16 conference games and had a nine-game streak where he scored at least 18 points, which included a season-high 30-point effort on Jan. 29 at Dallas when he hit 11-of-16 shots from the field to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Week honors. Alaekwe is the first men’s player from St. Thomas, which is completing its third season in the conference, to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors.
Alaekwe received five votes in the Player-of-the-Year balloting followed by junior forward Enzo Sechi of Trinity University who received three votes. Senior guard Alex Dehoyos of Schreiner received the remaining first-place vote.
Schreiner’s Ross, heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, leads all first-year players and is 11th overall with 12.4 points per game. He leads the entire league in field goal percentage (64.5 percent) as well as offensive rebounds (93), total rebounds (233) and is third in rebounds per game (9.3). Only one freshman in league history has led the league in either field goal percentage or rebounds per game as Spencer Levi of University of Dallas earned National Rookie-of-the-Year honors when accomplished both feats in 2017-18. A first-year forward from Cibolo, Texas, Ross earned SCAC Player-of-the-Week honors in Week 10 when he poured in 19 points, grabbed a then season-high 15 boards, and shot 72.7 percent from the field – which included the go-ahead bucket with five seconds remaining to lift Schreiner to the 64-60 win against Texas Lutheran. Ross is the first Schreiner men’s basketball player to earn First-Year POTY recognition.
Also a First Team all-SCAC selection, becoming just the third freshman to achieve that status, Ross was the coaches’ clear choice for First-Year Player-of-the-Year, earning seven votes in the balloting. Texas Lutheran first-year guard Isaac Orozco and St. Thomas first-year guard Marion Williams each received one first place vote.
Gims, a senior guard from Cypress, Texas, becomes just the second player in league history to earn three Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors, joining Trinity’s Sean Devins who took home the award in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05. A three-time all-SCAC performer, including a second team nod this season, Gims is currently leading the league in steals (2.5 per game) and is third in blocks (1.5 per game) – the only player in the league ranked in the top 10 in both categories. He has recorded at least two steals in 15 of the 20 games he has played this season, including five in the Celts’ 99-90 overtime win over Texas Lutheran on Feb. 15. Gims’ career steals per game average of 2.38 currently ranks fifth in SCAC history.
Gims received five votes in the Defensive Player-of-the-Year balloting, followed by senior guard AJ Clark of Trinity with three. Junior forward Seth Thomas of Centenary College received the remaining first-place vote.
In his third season as head coach at Schreiner, after serving as assistant the previous two seasons, Marwan Elrakabawy has compiled a 21-19 SCAC mark (.525), which includes this year’s squad that won a school-record 12 conference games and earned the third seed for this weekend’s conference tournament – the best finish for the Mountaineers since the program won back-to-back SCAC regular season titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Schreiner enters the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league with 12 wins in the team’s last 14 games (all conference games). That streak started on December 31 when the Mountaineers defeated top-seeded St. Thomas, 87-85, in Houston – the only home conference loss of the season for the Celts.
Elrakabawy’s selection as Coach-of-the-Year is his first, but it is the third for the program. Former head coach Connor Kuykendall, who is now at conference rival Southwestern University, received the honor in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
2021-22 SCAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Christian Alaekwe, University of the St. Thomas, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Fresno, Texas
2021-22 SCAC FIRST-YEAR PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Kamden Ross, Schreiner University, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas
2021-22 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Cameron Gims, University of St. Thomas, 6-2, Sr., Guard, Cypress, Texsa
2021-22 SCAC COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Marwan Elrakabawy, Schreiner University, 15-11 Overall | 12-4 SCAC | Third seed in SCAC Tourney
2021-22 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Christian Alaekwe, St. Thomas, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Fresno, Texas
Enzo Sechi, Trinity, 6-6, Jr., Forward, Houston, Texas
Alex Dehoyos, Schreiner, 6-0, Sr., Guard, Friendswood, Texas
Kamden Ross, Schreiner, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas
Kyle Poerschke, Southwestern, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Houston, Texas
2021-22 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Sebastian Andrade, Texas Lutheran, 6-3, Sr., Guard, El Paso, Texas
AJ Clark, Trinity, 6-3, Sr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Tanner Brown, Trinity, 6-3, So., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Jamir Mason, Texas Lutheran, 6-3, Sr., Guard, Pearland, Texas
Cameron Gims, St. Thomas, 6-2, Sr., Guard, Cypress, Texas
2021-22 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
Jai Love, Dallas, 5-9, Sr., Guard, St. Louis, Mo.
Seth Thomas, Centenary, 6-5, Jr., Forward, Kilgore, Texas
AJ Hall, Centenary, 6-3, Sr., Guard, Thibodaux, La.
Scott Cunningham, Colorado College, 6-0, Sr., Guard, Wilton, Conn.
Andrew Nguyen, St. Thomas, 6-0, Jr., Guard, Cypress, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Tristan Dick (Jr., G), Jason Jones Jr. (So., F); Centenary – Ralph Johnson (Jr., G); Colorado College – Jack McRoskey (Sr., G); Dallas – Jack Boyle (So., F), Letrell Toussaint (Sr., F); Schreiner – Bronson Evans (Jr., G), Darian Gibson (Jr., G/F); Southwestern – Preston Hannah (Jr., G), Chris Smith Jr. (Sr., G); St. Thomas – Juan Hood (Sr., G), Joshua Sanchez (Jr., F); Trinity – Kaleb Jenkins (Jr., G)
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.
2021-22 ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Kamden Ross, Schreiner, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas
Isaac Orozco, Texas Lutheran, 5-11, Fy., Guard, Helotes, Texas
Jacob Harvey, Trinity, 5-11, Fy., Guard, Huffman, Texas
Adrian Price, Colorado College, 6-7, Fy., Center, Aurora, Colo.
Jalen Ned, Schreiner, 6-2, Fy., Guard, New Orleans, La.
Coaches voted for five places for All-Freshman with five points awarded for first-place votes, four points for second-place votes, three points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a fifth-place vote. There was no Honorable Mention, and coaches could not vote for their own players.
For the complete release, click here.
