Tuesday, February 28, 2006

MACON, Ga. (Feb. 28, 2006) - ETSU senior guard Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) made good on the predications.

Named the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Player of the Year back in October, Smith was officially selected as the conference Player of the Year on Tuesday, joining six other players from around the A-Sun as first-team selections. Meanwhile, freshman guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) was chosen to the league's all-freshman team.

Smith lived up to the preseason hype during his final campaign in Johnson City, leading the conference in scoring and posting the league's highest scoring average (22.1 ppg) since 1995-96. The 5-9 senior has currently scored 596 points and should become only the third player in the last 13 seasons to reach the 600-point plateau in the A-Sun. Additionally, his 3.37 steals per game average is the fifth best in conference history.

Along with Smith, Gardner-Webb's Simon Conn, Florida Atlantic's Rodney Webb, Campbell's Maurice Latham, and Lipscomb's Brian Fish and Eddie Ard rounded out the first team selections.

Meanwhile, Pigram, who is currently the Bucs' second leading scorer with 12.3 points per game, was joined on the all-freshman squad by Jacksonville's Marcus Allen, Florida Atlantic's Carlos Monroe, Kennesaw State's Andre Morgan, and Belmont's Andy Wicke.

Fourteen of the 17 players honored by the conference office will participate in the 2006 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championship.  The madness begins in the mountains on Thursday when top-seeded Lipscomb faces eighth-seeded Mercer at 1:00 pm to tipoff the quarterfinal round at the Memorial Center on the campus of ETSU.

PLAYER of the YEAR

Tim Smith, ETSU

COACH of the YEAR

Scott Sanderson, Lipscomb

FRESHMAN of the YEAR

Andre Morgan, Kennesaw State

DEFENSIVE PLAYER of the YEAR

Tim Jennings, Gardner-Webb

FIRST TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC SUN

Pos.   Name                       School                 Cl.     Hometown                       

F       Eddie Ard                Lipscomb              SO     LaPlace, La.                     

C       Simon Conn              Gardner-Webb      SR     Melbourne, Australia         

G       Brian Fisk                Lipscomb              JR      Newbern, Tenn.                

F       Maurice Latham       Campbell              SR     Norfolk, Va.                     

G       Tim Smith                ETSU                   SR     Newport News, Va.          

F       Rodney Webb          Florida Atlantic      SR     Long Beach, Calif.            

Due to a tie in the voting, six players appear on the first team

SECOND TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC SUN

Pos.   Name                       School                 Cl.     Hometown                       

F       Brian Bender            Gardner-Webb      SR     Lawrenceville, Ga.            

G       E.J. Gordon              Stetson                 SR     DeLand, Fla.                    

G       Justin Hare               Belmont                SO     Cleveland, Tenn.               

C       Boomer Herndon      Belmont                JR      Nashville, Tenn.                

F       Alain Laroche          North Florida         SR     Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.           

ATLANTIC SUN ALL-FRESHMEN

Pos.   Name                       School                 Hometown                                 

F       Marcus Allen           Jacksonville           Hollywood, Fla.                          

F       Carlos Monroe         Florida Atlantic      Philadelphia, Pa.                         

G       Andre Morgan          Kennesaw State    Buford, Ga.                                

G       Courtney Pigram      ETSU                   Memphis, Tenn.                         

G       Andy Wicke             Belmont                Hendersonville, Tenn.