Maloney, White Headline Men's Basketball 2009 All-Conference Honor Roll
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Sun Conference office announced the 2009 Men’s Basketball All-Conference team on Wednesday afternoon. Topping the list of honorees were St. Thomas head coach Clark Maloney who was tabbed as the Coach of the Year, and Northwood’s DeSean White, who garnered Player of the Year honors.
Now in his second season with the Bobcats, Maloney orchestrated an impressive turnaround in the 2008-09 season, leading St. Thomas to a tie for second in the league standings at 9-5 after finishing in a three-way tie for sixth last season. The Bobcats, now 18-10 overall, topped Savannah College of Art and Design 66-64 to advance to The Sun Conference semifinals.
White repeated as the league’s Player of the Year after taking home the honor in 2007-08. White averaged 16.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in conference play to lead Northwood (26-5, 11-3 TSC) to its third consecutive conference regular season title. White, who earned conference Player of the Week honors twice in 2008-09, averaged 19.6 points and a league-best 9.7 boards in 27 regular season contests.
White’s teammate, Augustin Okuson took home Defensive Player of the Year honors. He averaged 5.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in conference play and led the league in blocks with 3.6 per game.
Warner’s Derrell Henderson was named the Newcomer of the Year after leading the Royals to a 9-5 league record (21-10 overall) and a tie for second in the conference race. Henderson led the Royals in scoring and rebounding at 14.3 and 9.4, respectively and averaged 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
Freshman of the Year honors went to Florida Memorial’s George Gray, who averaged 13.8 points, 3.9 boards, 3.0 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
The final individual honor was the Champion of Character Award, which went to Embry-Riddle’s Tyler DeBord. Voted on by the league coaches, the Champion of Character Award goes to the player who best exemplifies the Champion of Character core values, including academics, community service, sportsmanship and on-campus involvement.
First Team All-Conference
Tyler DeBord, ERAU (17.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.7 bpg)
Andre Thomas, FMU (18.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.0 bpg)
Baree Ward, NU (15.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.2 spg)
Desean White, NU (16.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.0 spg)
Antonio Jones, STU (23.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
Cesar Chavez-Jacobo, STU (14.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
Derrell Henderson, WU (14.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.1 spg)
Second Team All-Conference
Daniel Grant, EWC (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
Eric Lorenzi, ERAU (13.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.1 spg)
Denver Cobb, ERAU (14.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.1 spg)
Lester Hunte, NU (13.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.2 apg, 2.3 spg)
Xavier Blain-Cruz, SCAD (13.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.9 spg)
Preston Adams, WU (11.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.1 spg)
Halston Schaffer, WIU (12.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.7 apg)
Brandon Streeter, WIU (11.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.5 spg)
Freshman of the Year
George Gray, Florida Memorial
Newcomer of the Year
Derrell Henderson, Warner
Defensive Player of the Year
Augustin Okuson, Northwood
Champion of Character
Tyler DeBord, Embry-Riddle
Player of the Year
DeSean White, Northwood
Coach of the Year
Clark Maloney, St. Thomas