SFA?s Matt Kingsley Named Southland Player of the Year
FRISCO, Texas ? After leading Stephen F. Austin to its second consecutive regular season championship, senior center Matt Kingsley was named the Southland Conference Player of the Year on Tuesday, in conjunction with the announcement of the all-conference teams, which were selected by a combined vote of the league’s head coaches and men’s basketball sports information directors.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi junior Kevin Palmer was named the Newcomer of the Year and Nicholls State’s Fred Hunter received Freshman of the Year honors. Colonels’ head coach J.P. Piper was named the Southland’s Coach of the Year.
A 2007-08 second-team All-Conference selection, Kingsley followed up his strong junior campaign with an even more impressive final season, powering the Lumberjacks to a 13-3 mark in Southland play and the No. 1 overall seed in the 2009 State Farm Southland Conference Tournament, which begins Thursday in Katy, Texas. The fifth-year senior and Houston, Texas, native was the league’s only player to finish in the top-five in points and rebounds per game and field goal percentage this season. He averaged a third-best 15.9 points and fifth-best 7.5 rebounds. The Cypress Creek product also shot 55.2 percent from the field while turning away 39 blocks, more than one per game. Kingsley is the second consecutive Lumberjack to earn Player of the Year honors.
Palmer was almost as dominant for A&M-Corpus Christi, which finished the season with a 17-14, 11-5 mark. The Islanders’ junior led the conference in scoring this season, averaging 17.8 points per game for a league-best 551 points. A Baltimore, Md., native and first-year transfer out of Cecil (Md.) Community College, Palmer led the league in steals with 82, finished third in free throw shooting (147-for-182, .808) and hauled in 5.2 rebounds per game.
Hunter also made an immediate impact in the league this season. He started 28-of-29 games for Nicholls State, averaging more than 23 minutes per game while pouring in 11 points per game to help the Colonels to a second-best 12-4 mark in conference play. A product of Denton (Texas) High School, Hunter had 105 rebounds and 33 assists and finished fourth among all qualifying Southland players with a 55.5 field goal percentage (121-of-218).
In his fifth season at the helm of Nicholls State, Piper saw his Colonels improve from a 10-21, 5-11 record a season ago to a 19-10, 12-4 mark this season. Nicholls’ 12 conference wins allowed his squad to secure a No. 2 seed in this week’s conference tournament, its first berth into the postseason classic since 2001. The Colonels, which were a preseason pick to finish fifth or sixth in the East Division, averaged 65.3 points per game this season with a league-best shooting percentage of 47.7. Piper’s squad was also second in scoring defense, permitting opponents to shoot only .389 from the field while allowing a league second-fewest 59.8 points per game. Piper is one of 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award.
Kingsley and Palmer were named first-team All-Southland Conference selections. Joining them on the first team were UT Arlington senior forward Anthony Vereen, Nicholls State senior forward Ryan Bathie and Sam Houston State junior guard Corey Allmond.
The Mavericks led all Southland teams by placing three student-athletes on the three all-conference teams. In addition to Vereen, who finished second in the league scoring with 17.7 points per game, were junior swingman Marquez Haynes, who earned a second-team selection, and junior guard Roge’r Guignard, who was named to the third team.
Lamar, Nicholls State, Sam Houston State and UTSA each had two all-conference selections. Kingsley was the Lumberjacks’ first-team selection and senior Josh Alexander, the 2007-08 Southland Conference Player of the Year, was named to the second team. Allmond was joined on the all-conference teams by teammate Ashton Mitchell, a junior guard who garnered second-team honors. Bathie and sophomore forward Anatoly Bose, a third-team selection, represented Nicholls State. Lamar seniors Kenny Dawkins and Jay Brown were second- and third-team selections, respectively. UTSA senior Travis Gabbidon and sophomore Devin Gibson were named to the third team.
A first-team selection, Palmer was A&M-Corpus Christi’s lone honoree. Texas State also had one all-conference selection in second-team senior Brandon Bush. Additionally, 10 student-athletes were named honorable mention all-conference after receiving votes from at least 25 percent of the coaches and sports information directors.
The 2009 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament will be played this week at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. Four men’s quarterfinal games will be played Thursday beginning at noon with semifinal games Friday at 6:05 p.m. and approximately 8:33 p.m. The championship game will be played Sunday at 12:03 p.m. and televised on ESPN2. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or at the Merrell Center box office.
2008-09 Men’s Basketball All-Southland Conference Teams
|
First Team |
School |
Pos. |
Cl. |
Hometown |
|
Matt Kingsley |
Stephen F. Austin |
C |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
|
Kevin Palmer |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
G/F |
Jr. |
Baltimore, Md. |
|
Anthony Vereen |
UT Arlington |
F |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
|
Ryan Bathie |
Nicholls State |
F |
Sr. |
Melton, Australia |
|
Corey Allmond |
Sam Houston State |
G |
Jr. |
Oxon Hill, Md. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Second Team |
|
|
|
|
|
Marquez Haynes |
UT Arlington |
F/G |
Jr. |
Irving, Texas |
|
Ashton Mitchell |
Sam Houston State |
G |
Jr. |
New Orleans, La. |
|
Josh Alexander |
Stephen F. Austin |
G |
Sr. |
Shreveport, La. |
|
Brandon Bush |
Texas State |
F |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
|
Kenny Dawkins |
Lamar |
G |
Sr. |
Holly Springs, Miss. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Third Team |
|
|
|
|
|
Anatoly Bose |
Nicholls State |
F |
So. |
Sydney, Australia |
|
Travis Gabbidon |
UTSA |
G |
Sr. |
Phoenix, Ariz. |
|
Devin Gibson |
UTSA |
G |
So. |
Houston, Texas |
|
Roge’r Guignard |
UT Arlington |
G |
Jr. |
Mesquite, Texas |
|
Jay Brown |
Lamar |
F |
Sr. |
Griffin, Ga. |
Honorable Mention
John Pichon, McNeese State; Patrick Sullivan, Southeastern Louisiana; Omar Johnson, UTSA; Kleon Penn, McNeese State; Brandon McThay, Lamar; Brent Benson, Texas State; Marcus Pillow, Central Arkansas; Barkley Falkner, Sam Houston State; Justin Reynolds, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; Corey Jefferson, Texas State.
Player of the Year: Matt Kingsley, Stephen F. Austin
Newcomer of the Year: Kevin Palmer, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Freshman of the Year: Fred Hunter, Nicholls State
Coach of the Year: J.P. Piper, Nicholls State