Hall, Johnson and Thomas earn full SCAC honors

SHERMAN, TX — In an exclusive vote by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior guard Christian Alekwe from the University of St. Thomas was selected as the SCAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year while University head coach Schreiner Marwan Elrakabawy won SCAC Coach of the Year honors. Full version

In that same ballot, Schreiner first-year forward Kamden Ross was voted league freshman player of the year while a senior guard Cameron Gims of St. Thomas was named SCAC Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Alaekwe, a native of Fresno, Texas, was the leading scorer of any player in the conference in championship games, averaging 18.8 points in just 28.6 minutes played per game. His overall average of 15.3 points per game finished third in the conference. The senior also led the league in three-point field goals (60) and was fifth in three-point field goal percentage (38.0%), eighth in steals (33) and 13th in blocks (17). He scored in double figures in 15 of 16 conference games and had a nine-game streak where he scored at least 18 points, including a record 30 points on Jan. 29 at Dallas when he hit 11 of 16 shots. from the field to earn SCAC Player of the Week honors. Alaekwe is the first male player from St. Thomas, completing his third season in the conference, to earn SCAC Player of the Year honors.

Alaekwe received five votes in the Player of the Year ballot, followed by junior striker Enzo Sechei from Trinity University who got three votes. senior guard Alex Dehoyos de Schreiner received the remaining vote for first place.

by Schreiner Ross, heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, leads all freshmen and is 11th overall with 12.4 points per game. He leads the entire league in field goal percentage (64.5%) as well as offensive rebounds (93), total rebounds (233) and is third in rebounds per game (9.3). Only one freshman in league history has led the league in field goal percentage or rebounds per game as Spencer Levi of the University of Dallas earned National All-Rookie honors. year when he accomplished both feats in 2017-18. A freshman forward from Cibolo, Texas, Ross earned SCAC Player of the Week honors in Week 10 when he had a season-high 19 points, caught 15 boards, and shot 72.7% from the field – which included the go-ahead with five seconds remaining to take Schreiner to the 64-60 win over Texas Lutheran. Ross is the first Schreiner male basketball player to earn freshman POTY recognition.

Also an all-SCAC first-team selection, becoming only the third freshman to achieve that status, Ross was the coaches’ clear choice for freshman player of the year, earning seven votes in the ballot. Texas Lutheran Freshman Guard isaac orozco and St. Thomas freshman guard Marion Williams each received a vote for first place.

gims, a senior guard from Cypress, Texas, becomes the second player in league history to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards, joining Trinity’s Sean Devins who won the award in 2002-03, 2003- 04 and 2004-05. A three-time SCAC player, including a second team this season, Gims currently leads the league in steals (2.5 per game) and third in blocks (1.5 per game) – the only player in the league ranked in the top 10 in both categories. He has recorded at least two interceptions in 15 of the 20 games he has played this season, including five in the Celts’ 99-90 overtime win over Texas Lutheran on Feb. 15. in the history of the SCAC.

Gims received five votes in the Defensive Player of the Year ballot, followed by the senior guard A.J. Clark of Trinity with three. junior striker thomas thomas of Centenary College received the remaining vote for first place.

In his third season as head coach at Schreiner, after serving as an assistant the previous two seasons, Marwan Elrakabawy compiled a 21-19 SCAC mark (.525), which includes this year’s team that won a school-record 12 conference games and earned the third seed for this weekend’s conference tournament – the best result for the Mountaineers since the program reclaimed back-to-back SCAC regular-season titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Schreiner enters the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league with 12 wins in the team’s last 14 games (all conference games). That streak began Dec. 31 when the Mountaineers defeated top seeded St. Thomas, 87-85, in Houston — the Celts’ only home conference loss of the season.

Elrakabawy’s selection as Coach of the Year is his first, but it’s the program’s third. Former Head Coach Connor Kuykendallwho is now at conference rival Southwestern University, received the honor in consecutive seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

2021-22 SCAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Christian Alaekwe, University of St. Thomas, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Fresno, Texas

2021-22 SCAC FIRST YEAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kamden Ross, Schreiner University, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas

2021-22 SCAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cameron Gims, University of St. Thomas, 6-2, Sr., Guard, Cypress, Texsa

2021-22 SCAC COACH OF THE YEAR
Marwan Elrakabawy, Schreiner University, ages 15-11 overall | 12-4 SCAC | Third seed in the SCAC tournament

2021-22 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Christian Alaekwe, St. Thomas, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Fresno, Texas
Enzo Sechi, Trinity, 6-6, Jr., Forward, Houston, Texas
Alex Dehoyos, Schreiner, 6-0, Sr., Guard, Friendswood, Texas
Kamden Ross, Schreiner, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas
Kyle Poerschke, Southwest, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Houston, Texas

SECOND TEAM ALL-SCAC 2021-22
Sebastian Andrade, Texas Lutheran, 6-3, Sr., guard, El Paso, Texas
AJ Clark, Trinity, 6-3, Sr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Tanner Brown, Trinity, 6-3, So., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Jamir Mason, Texas Lutheran, 6-3, Sr., Guard, Pearland, Texas
Cameron Gims, St. Thomas, 6-2, Sr., Guard, Cypress, Texas

THIRD TEAM ALL-SCAC 2021-22
Jai Love, Dallas, 5-9, Sr., Guard, St. Louis, Mo.
Seth Thomas, Centenarian, 6-5, Jr., Forward, Kilgore, Texas
AJ Hall, Centenary, 6-3, Sr., Guard, Thibodaux, La.
Scott Cunningham, Colorado College, 6-0, Sr., Guard, Wilton, Conn.
Andrew Nguyen, St. Thomas, 6-0, Jr., Guard, Cypress, Texas

HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Tristan Dick (Jr., G), Jason Jones Jr. (So., F); Centennial – Ralph Johnson (Jr., G); Colorado College – Jack McRoskey (Sr., G); dallas – Jack Boyle (So., F), Letrell Toussaint (Sr., F); Schreiner – Bronson Evans (Jr., G), Darian Gibson (Jr., G/F); South West – Preston Hannah (Jr., G), Chris Smith Jr. (Sr., G); St. Thomas – Juan Hood (Sr., G), Joshua Sanchez (Jr., F); Trinity – Kaleb Jenkins (Jr., G)

Coaches voted for 15 All-SCAC spots with 15 points awarded for first place votes, 14 points for second place votes, 13 points for third place votes, etc., down to one point for one 15th place vote. All players not elected to the first, second or third team, but who received at least one vote, were named honorable mention. Coaches could not vote for their own players.

2021-22 FIRST YEAR TEAM
Kamden Ross, Schreiner, 6-5, Fy., Forward, Cibolo, Texas
Isaac Orozco, Texas Lutheran, 5-11, Fy., Guard, Helotes, Texas
Jacob Harvey, Trinity, 5-11, Fy., Guard, Huffman, Texas
Adrian Price, Colorado College, 6-7, Fy., Center, Aurora, Colo.
Jalen Ned, Schreiner, 6-2, Fy., Guard, New Orleans, La.

Coaches voted for five places for All-Freshman with five points awarded for first place votes, four points for second place votes, three points for third place votes, etc., down to one point for one. fifth place vote. There was no honorable mention and coaches could not vote for their own players.

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