March 1, 2012

Eagles’ Davis, Sanders earn All-South Atlantic Conference honors

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman guard Ishmael Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) and forward Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) have been named to the 2012 Men’s Basketball All-South Atlantic Conference Second Team, as part of a list of award winners the league announced on Thursday.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman guard Ishmael Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) and forward Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) have been named to the 2012 Men's Basketball All-South Atlantic Conference Second Team, as part of a list of award winners the league announced on Thursday.

The sophomores combined to lead the Eagles to a 15-14 season and a fifth-place finish in SAC play. More importantly, the duo led C-N to a four-game improvement from a season ago and are part of an Eagle rotation that consisted of two juniors and six underclassmen.

Both played key roles in C-N finishing with a winning record for the first time since the 2007-2008 season. Sanders had 29 points in the Eagles' upset of No. 12 Lincoln Memorial in Jefferson City in late February, while Davis had 16 points in a road win against the then-No. 5 Railsplitters in January, ending LMU's 30-game home win streak.

The Eagles guard-forward combo also combined for 40 points in C-N's 78-64 home win over rival-Tusculum in early February, abruptly ending what was a nine-game home losing streak to the Pioneers.

Fittingly, both players finished the year at 16.8 points per game, tied with each other for fifth in the SAC in point per game.

Davis led the Eagles with 6.2 rebounds per game. The forward shot 37 percent from three-point range and picked up two double-doubles on the season. His career high came early in the season, pouring in 27 points in a one-sided win over Cincinnati Christian in November, and reached the 20-point plateau nine times. He scored 25 points twice in conference play with a 25-point effort at home in a loss to nationally-ranked Anderson (S.C.).

Sanders overcame a midseason lull to lead the South Atlantic Conference in three-pointers made with 82, almost three per game. The versatile sophomore, from his guard spot, was the Eagles' third-leading rebounder at 3.8 boards per game. He had a team-high 11 games of over 20 points. He closed the regular season back-to-back games of 29 points in the win against LMU and 24 points in a loss at Anderson. He was also fourth in the SAC at 1.5 steals per game and was second on the team at 3.0 assists per game.

Sanders and Davis earning All-SAC honors marks the first time since 2004-2005, when guard Braun Dabbs and forward Jonathan Martin were both named to the first team.

Denzail Jones, a versatile guard for the SAC regular season champion Anderson Trojans, has been named the conference's Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Jones, a junior, finished among the SAC leaders in numerous statistical categories, ranking first in steals, eighth in scoring, sixth in assists and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio. He averaged 15.7 points-per-game for Anderson, which closed the regular season at 22-4 overall and 17-1 in the SAC.

The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native is one of three Trojans to earn All-SAC honors, joining center Taylor Shugart and guard Nick Trull, who were both named second team All-Conference.

Lincoln Memorial, which finished second in the regular season SAC standings with a 14-4 league record, placed three players on the All-Conference Team, including first-team selections Desmond Johnson and Brandon Armstrong.

Johnson, last year's SAC Player of the Year, averaged 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds during the regular season, helping the Railsplitters maintain a top-10 national ranking for much of the season.

Mars Hill's Sammy Emile, the top scorer in all of Division II during the regular season at an even 25 points-per-game, earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team. In addition to leading the SAC in scoring, Emile finished 11^th in rebounding, fourth in assists, fifth in steals and seventh in three-pointers made per game.

Rounding out the All-SAC First Team were Catawba's Keon Moore – last season's SAC Freshman of the Year -- and Wingate's Jaime Vaughn, who was a second-team selection each of the past two years. Moore was the conference's second-leading scorer at 21.7 points-per-game and also finished seventh in rebounding average, while Vaughn ranked 11^th in the SAC in scoring average and ninth in assists.

All-Conference Second Team accolades also went to LMU's Vincent Bailey and Newberry's Dondray Walker.

Walker was also named the SAC Freshman of the Year after leading Newberry by averaging 16.5 points-per-game, the seventh-highest mark in the conference. Walker was especially lethal from long distance, averaging 2.92 three-pointers made per-game, finishing just behind Sanders for the league lead.

Joining Walker on the SAC All-Freshman Team were teammate Savad Garner, Catawba's Tyrece Little, Mars Hill's Terrell Harris, and LMU's Lorenza Ross.

After leading his team to a SAC title in just the program's second year of competing in the conference, Anderson's Jason Taylor was named the league's Coach of the Year. Taylor is in his sixth season at Anderson.

2012 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Awards

SAC Player of the Year: Denzail Jones, Anderson

SAC Freshman of the Year: Dondray Walker, Newberry

SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Nick Trull, Anderson

SAC Coach of the Year: Jason Taylor, Anderson

All-SAC First Team

Brandon Armstrong, Lincoln Memorial

Sammy Emile, Mars Hill

Desmond Johnson, Lincoln Memorial

Denzail Jones, Anderson

Keon Moore, Catawba

Jaime Vaughn, Wingate