2004 All-Southland Conference Men's Basketball Teams Named
March 7, 2004
PLANO, Texas -
On the verge of leading the league in scoring for the second straight year, LeRoy Hurd of the University of Texas at San Antonio has been voted men's basketball player of the year for the Southland Conference. The honor comes two days after Hurd helped his Roadrunners to their second-ever SLC regular-season title.
UTSA upended visiting Southeastern Louisiana University, 106-86, behind Hurd's 25 points in the regular-season finale for both teams. That result created a three-way tie at the top between UTSA, SLU and the University of Texas at Arlington.
A senior from Moss Point, Miss., Hurd is averaging 19.4 points per game heading into the postseason. He leads UTA's Derrick Obasohan (16.6 ppg), who joins him on the first squad of the All-Southland Conference teams, by 2.8 points an outing. Voted last year's newcomer of the year after transferring from the University of Miami, Hurd also ranks second in the league in rebounding at 8.1 a game to another first-team all-league pick in Nate Lofton of Southeastern Louisiana.
Hurd led the league in 2003 with a 17.6 scoring average and finished fourth with 8.0 rebounds a contest. This year, he is 12th in the Southland in field goal percentage at 48.5 (189-390) aim and 10th in free throw percentage at 77.8 (147-189). He helped UTSA to an 11-5 SLC record and 16-13 overall mark as the Roadrunners captured a piece of their second league title all-time and first since the 1992 season, their first year in the Southland.
Obasohan, a senior forward from Houston, Texas, ranks 11th in the Southland with 6.0 rebounds per game from his forward spot. He also ranks among the league leaders in free throw percentage at seventh with 79.3 percent aim.
Lofton, this year's newcomer of the year, helped his Lions to their first-ever Southland Conference regular-season crown and a No. 2 seed in the league's postseason tournament. After transferring from Arkansas-Fort Smith, Lofton has averaged a double-double with 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds as a junior. The New Orleans, La., product has connected on 59.9 (127-of-212) percent of his field goals to rank third and is also tied for third in the league in blocked shots at 1.37.
Lofton's teammate Amir Abdur-Rahim, the younger brother of NBA star Shareef, has also been voted first team by the league's head coaches and one media representative from each university. The senior guard is eighth in the league in scoring at 15.1 points, fifth in free throw percentage (80.9 percent) and fifth in 3-point field goals made per game at 2.30 an outing. He was a second-team selection last season.
Stephen F. Austin State University's Antonio Burks rounds out the first-team selections after averaging 15.8 points in the regular season to rank second in the league. The senior from Texarkana, Texas, led the country much of the year in 3-point field goal percentage and currently ranks second nationally. The 6-5 forward fell below the 50-percent mark for the first time all year to 49.7 after SFA's last game of the regular season.
Five different clubs are represented on the second team with all five players being guards as teams are picked without regard to position. Texas State University's Terry Conerway, a first-team pick a year ago, and SLU's Michael Gardner are the two seniors on the second squad. Sam Houston State University's Joe Thompson and Nicholls State University's Willie Depron, both juniors, represent their teams during their first year in the league. The final second-team spot belongs to Jermaine Wallace, a sophomore who was the SLC's freshman of the year in 2003.
Four seniors and one sophomore are on the third team with Clifton Lee of Northwestern being the youngster. Donnie Beacham of UTA, Jerrick Oliver of McNeese State University, Larry Parker of the University of Louisiana-Monroe and Terrell Petteway of Lamar University represent their schools in their final year of collegiate play.
This year's freshman of the year award goes to Kurt Attaway of UTSA. The guard from Flower Mound, Texas, finished his rookie campaign averaging 7.3 points and ranking 10th in the SLC with 3.3 assists per game. He also chipped in 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals during the regular season.
SLU head coach Billy Kennedy, in his fifth year with the Lions, has been voted coach of the year after leading SLU to the tri-championship. Southeastern was picked to finish sixth by the head coaches in the preseason, but came on to post an 11-5 league mark and 19-8 overall. A year ago, SLU went 9-11 in league play to finish eighth and had an 11-16 overall mark.
Complete Teams in PDF Format