Men’s Basketball Post-Season Honors Awarded At Final Four Banquet
Taylor Hodge
LAKE WALES, Fla. --- The 2018-19 Sun Conference men’s basketball special awards were announced Thursday night at the final four banquet. The awards banquet kicks off championship weekend which is hosted by regular season champion Warner.
Warner’s Trae Graham was the top vote-getter in the all-conference voting to earn Player of the Year distinction. The senior out of Port Salerno, Fla., averaged 17.8 points per game and led the Sun Conference in field goal percentage, making 56.6 percent of his shots from the field. He also grabbed 5.5 rebounds per game.
Freshman of the Year honors went to Warner’s Darryl Mercer. The Cleveland, Ohio native started 24 games and played in all 30 for the Royals as a freshman. He averaged 12.6 points and led the team with 112 assists which ranked fourth in conference.
Southeastern’s Linwood Ross is this year’s Champion of Character recipient. Ross is a Boys and Girls Club of Lakeland advisor, tutor, and mentor and also assists a basketball program with the club. Ross also volunteered at events for inner city kids in Baltimore, Md., as a CBA camp coach and speaker, and at Kool 2 Be King events.
Ave Maria’s John Lamanna and Warner’s Sean Hanrahan have been named co-Coach of the Year. Lamanna guided his team to a 20-8 overall record and a 13-5 mark in TSC play which was good for a tied for second place finish in the regular season conference standings. Ave Maria was 4-25 overall and 2-16 in Sun Conference play a year ago.
Hanrahan’s squad improved from a 10-8 record in conference play last season to a league-best 14-4 mark this season to claim the school’s first Regular Season Conference Championship under coach Hanrahan. The Royals team, that is currently ranked 17th in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, had to overcome some mid-season adversity and played the second half of the conference season without 2017-18 First Team All-Conference selection Khalil Ozuna.
15 student-athletes earned Academic All-Conference recognition for their work in the classroom. To be eligible, the recipient must be at least a sophomore that has completed two semesters at their institution with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. St. Thomas led the way with five Academic All-Conference honorees.
Player of the Year: Trae Graham (Warner)
Freshman of the Year: Darryl Mercer (Warner)
Champion of Character: Linwood Ross (Southeastern)
Co-Coach of the Year: John Lamanna (Ave Maria) and Sean Hanrahan (Warner)
2018-19 Men’s Basketball All-Sun Conference Teams
| First Team |
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| Leo Behrend |
Ave Maria |
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| Romello Bates |
Ave Maria |
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| Gianpaolo Riccio |
Ave Maria |
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| Jaylen Smallwood |
Coastal Georgia |
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| Andrija Matic |
Keiser |
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| Josiah Barsh |
Southeastern |
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| Justin Brown |
St. Thomas |
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| Joshua Scott |
Thomas |
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| Trae Graham |
Warner |
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| Tommie Luke |
Webber International |
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| Second Team |
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| Devonta Leslie |
Coastal Georgia |
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| Dwayne Adams |
Johnson & Wales (Fla.) |
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| Marco Orlic |
Keiser |
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| Ismael Celestin |
Southeastern |
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| Isaiah Moody |
Southeastern |
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| Jeremy Oppenheimer |
Southeastern |
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| Philip Saunders |
St. Thomas |
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| Cedric Wright |
Thomas |
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| Darryl Mercer Jr. |
Warner |
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| Jalen Williams |
Warner |
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All-Academic Team |
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| Greenan Sullivan |
Ave Maria |
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| Jovan Grujicic |
Ave Maria |
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| Stevan Krusevan |
Ave Maria |
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| Kase Carrera |
Florida Memorial |
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| Marko Radulovic |
Keiser |
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| Andrija Matic |
Keiser |
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| Matt McKewin |
Keiser |
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| Phil Steffens |
Southeastern |
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| Christos Chrysanthakis |
St. Thomas |
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| Evangelos Malelis |
St. Thomas |
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| Adam McNeill |
St. Thomas |
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| Lexton Stubbs |
St. Thomas |
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| George Tzelalis |
St. Thomas |
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| Dante Disipio |
Thomas |
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| Stephen Hamler |
Webber International |
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