Sam Houston's Gilberto Clavell Named Southland Player of the Year
FRISCO, Texas - Sam Houston State forward Gilberto Clavell was named the Southland Conference Player of the Year Tuesday, in conjunction with the announcement of the all-conference teams, which were selected by a combined vote of the league's men's basketball coaches and sports information directors.
Additionally, UT Arlington forward Bo Ingram was named the newcomer of the year and UTSA forward Jeromie Hill earned freshman of the year honors. McNeese State head coach Dave Simmons was named the Southland's Coach of the Year.
Clavell, a native of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, scored 558 points in 29 games for an average of 19.2 points per game, which is the second highest total in the conference. His average is 19.4 points per game in conference play for the two-time conference player of the week. The 6-foot-7 senior is the only junior college transfer to score 1,000 points or more in two years as a Bearkat. The conference's 2010 newcomer of the year has scored 1,121 points in 62 games since transferring to Sam Houston from Collin County Community College. He has scored in double figures 55 times including 27 games with 20 or more points and four with 30 or more.
A five-time player of the week in his two seasons in Huntsville, Clavell's career scoring average of 18.1 points ranks as the third highest at Sam Houston, behind James Lister, the school's all-time scoring leader, who averaged 21.9 points in 1970-73, and Tom Sewell, who posted a 19.6 scoring average from 1952 to 1954. Clavell is the third Sam Houston State student-athlete to earn player of the year honors and the first since Joe Thompson earned the honor in 2005, just two years after Donald Cole became the first Bearkat to win the award in 2003.
Ingram made an immediate impact for the Mavericks and finished the season as the team's leading scorer in conference games at 12.4 points per contest, up from his 11.6 season average. He also averaged 14.2 points per game in the Mavericks' wins. The junior from Kinston, N.C., scored in double figures 17 times including 12 conference games. He scored a career-high 28 points to go along with 10 rebounds in a win at Sam Houston State. Ingram, a transfer from South Plains College, is the first player from UT Arlington to be named the league's newcomer of the year.
Hill leads all Southland freshmen in scoring (13.0 points per game), rebounding (6.8 rebounds per game) and field-goal percentage (.462). The native of Cairns, Australia, leads the Roadrunners in rebounding, is second on the team with 35 3-pointers and is third on the team in scoring. Hill has posted three double-doubles and has reached double figures in scoring in 21 games this season, including 11 in league play. UTSA has now had the league's freshman of the year in three of the last four seasons. Melvin Johnson III earned the honor last year two years after Devin Gibson won the award in 2008. This is the first time a school has had back-to-back freshmen of the year since Lamar had consecutive winners in 1984 and 1985.
Simmons captured his first coach of the year honor after guiding McNeese State to an outright regular-season conference championship, its sixth in school history. The regular-season championship is the first for McNeese since winning back-to-back Southland championships in 2001 and 2002. Simmons guided the Cowboys to a 19-10 overall record and 11-5 in Southland play to earn the top seed in this week's conference tournament, which begins Wednesday. Simmons had the Cowboys in the tournament his first two years as coach in 2007 and 2008, but the Cowboys have missed the last two tournaments before securing the top seed in this year's tournament. Simmons is 68-81 in his fifth year in Lake Charles.
Clavell was also named a first-team All-Southland Conference selection and was joined on the team by McNeese State guard Patrick Richard, Nicholls State guard Anatoly Bose, Gibson and Stephen F. Austin center Jereal Scott. Bose leads the conference in scoring with 22.0 points per game, a figure that ranks among the top-10 scorers in NCAA Division I. Gibson ranks fourth in the league with 16.3 points per game and is averging 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game to lead the conference, while Richard ranks fifth with 16.1 points per game, while Scott ranks 11th with a 13.7 scoring average.
The second team was comprised of Texas State forward Tony Bishop (12.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg), Northwestern State forward Will Pratt (17.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and center William Mosley (7.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 4.9 blocks per game that leads Division I), McNeese State guard Diego Kapelan (14.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) and Stephen F. Austin forward Jordan Glynn (11.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg). The third-team choices were Texas State guard Ryan White (11.3 ppg, 4.8 apg and 3.5 rpg), Southeastern Louisana guards Trent Hutchin (14.8 ppg) and Brandon Fortenberry (12.1 ppg, 4.3 apg), McNeese State forward P.J. Alawoya (10.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi forward Demond Watt (15.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg).
Regular-season champion McNeese State led all universities with three all-conference selections. Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin and Texas State each placed two on the all-conference squads, while four other schools had at least one all-league honoree.
A total of six all-conference players were also recognized last season. Bose is a repeat selection on the first team, while Clavell and Gibson earned second-team mention a season ago. Richard, Pratt and Watt earned third-team honors in 2010. Additionally, nine student-athletes were named honorable mention all-conference after receiving votes from at least 25 percent of the coaches and sports information directors.
All three all-conference teams are listed below.
The 2011 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament will be played this week at the Leonard E. Merrell Center. Four men's quarterfinal games will be played Wednesday beginning at noon with semifinal games Thursday at 6:05 p.m. and approximately 8:33 p.m. The championship game will be played Saturday at 3:05 p.m. and televised on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. Both semifinal games will be televised on the Southland Conference Television Network. The first six games of the tournament will be streamed free on SLC NOW on Southland.org. Tickets for the tournament are available through Ticketmaster or at the Merrell Center box office.
2010-11 Men's Basketball All-Southland Conference Teams
|
First Team
|
University
|
Pos.
|
Cl.
|
Hometown
|
|
Gilberto Clavell
|
Sam Houston State
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
|
|
Patrick Richard
|
McNeese State
|
G
|
Jr.
|
Carencro, La.
|
|
Anatoly Bose
|
Nicholls
|
G
|
Sr.
|
Sydney, Australia
|
|
Devin Gibson
|
UTSA
|
G
|
Sr.
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Jereal Scott
|
Stephen F. Austin
|
C
|
Jr.
|
Houston, Texas
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Second Team
|
University
|
Pos.
|
Cl.
|
Hometown
|
|
Tony Bishop
|
Texas State
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Garland, Texas
|
|
Will Pratt
|
Northwestern State
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Harlem, N.Y.
|
|
William Mosley
|
Northwestern State
|
C
|
Jr.
|
Shreveport, La.
|
|
Diego Kapelan
|
McNeese State
|
G
|
Sr.
|
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
Jordan Glynn
|
Stephen F. Austin
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Waco, Texas
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Third Team
|
University
|
Pos.
|
Cl.
|
Hometown
|
|
Ryan White
|
Texas State
|
G
|
Sr.
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Trent Hutchin
|
Southeastern Louisiana
|
G
|
Sr.
|
Baton Rouge, La.
|
|
Brandon Fortenberry
|
Southeastern Louisiana
|
G
|
Jr.
|
Picayune, Miss.
|
|
P.J. Alawoya
|
McNeese State
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Demond Watt
|
A&M-Corpus Corpus
|
F
|
Sr.
|
Chicago, Ill.
|
Honorable Mention: Josten Crow, Sam Houston State; Bo Ingram, UT Arlington; Devon Baker, Northwestern State; Anthony Miles, Lamar; Cameron Johnson, Texas State; Fred Hunter, Nicholls; Melvin Johnson III, UTSA; Devon Lamb, Lamar; Jeromie Hill, UTSA.
Player of the Year: Gilberto Clavell, Sam Houston State
Freshman of the Year: Jeromie Hill, UTSA
Newcomer of the Year: Bo Ingram, UT Arlington
Coach of the Year: Dave Simmons, McNeese State