INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference presented its 2012-13 Men’s and Women’s Basketball honors and awards on Friday during the inaugural G-MAC Basketball Championships. Between the semifinal games at Cedarville University (Men’s) and Trevecca Nazarene University (Women’s), the selected student-athletes were recognized.
The coaches selected the five-member First and Second All-Conference teams, and included a six-member Honorable Mention squad. In addition to the All-Conference teams, the coaches named a Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year, and a Player of the Year.
The Men’s Championship Tournament kicked off this evening in Cedarville, Ohio as the #3 seed Trevecca Nazarene University faced off against #2 seed Central State University, followed by #4 Urbana University taking on top seed and host, Cedarville University.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s Coach of the Year
PAT ESTEPP - Cedarville University
Coach of the Year honors go to the top seeded Cedarville Head Coach Pat Estepp, as he guided his squad to a one-loss conference regular-season title.
For the Cedarville men’s program, Estepp coached the team to an 18-8 record and a 5-1 record in conference. The team’s only loss came in the season-opening game at Trevecca, 74-70. Cedarville rebounded to split the season series with TNU, winning at home 70-54. The Yellow Jackets started the season 2-5, but managed to turn the season around with a five-straight in December, and more recently are riding a nine-game winning streak and have won 11 of its last 12, including five-straight in conference. In his fifth season, Estepp has reached 20 wins in each season and if they can take this tournament as the top seed, he will make it five-straight seasons, surpassing 100 career wins at Cedarville earlier this season.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s Player of the Year
ZIMMY NWGBO - Forward
Senior - Cedarville University
Zimmy Nwogbo ended the season averaging 18.4 points, which ranked third in the conference, and led the G-MAC with 8.2 rebounds a game. He also topped the conference rankings in shooting percentage at 64.8% - almost ten percent higher than anyone in the conference.
Nwogbo had a G-MAC leading five Athlete of the Week awards including three out of the last four to end the regular season. He led the conference in double-doubles with six overall, and had nine 20-point games this season. Highlighting his season was an impressive 23-point, 21rebound performance against Holy Family (November 9). The 21 rebounds stands as a conference-record in this inaugural season. He led his team in scoring 16 times and in rebounding 19 times.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s Freshman of the Year
NICK DRAKE - Guard
Freshman - Trevecca Nazarene University
Drake averaged 7.6 points per game, which ranked 17th in the conference, but was the best scoring average among all freshmen in the conference. He also chipped in 2.7 assists per game, good for fourth in the conference overall, while adding a steal per game.
He started all but seven games for the Trojans this season, with his top performance coming against Martin Methodist (February 19). In that contest he scored a season and career-high 22 points. Against his conference opponents during G-MAC play, he raised his average up to 9.2 points per game, which ranked him 13th in the G-MAC.
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The Great Midwest Athletic Conference also presented the All-Conference First, Second, and Honorable Mention teams during the semifinals of the Men’s Basketball Championships. Below is a list of the All-Conference teams. All conference awards and honors were nominated and voted upon by the G-MAC coaches.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s All-Conference First Team
ZIMMY NWOGBO Cedarville University Forward Senior
DeMARKUS ISOM-JONES Central State University Guard Junior
ARMOND BATTLE Urbana University Guard Senior
ZACH BROWN Cedarville University Guard Senior
MARQUISE RUDOLPH Trevecca Nazarene University Guard Senior
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s All-Conference Second Team
PHILLIP GATES Central State University Guard Senior
MALIEK DANIELS Trevecca Nazarene University Guard Senior
DANNY GOINS Urbana University Guard Junior
AUSTIN FOOTE Cedarville University Guard Senior
JP NYADARO Trevecca Nazarene University Center Senior
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: Men’s All-Conference Honorable Mention Team
LeDONTE BODY Central State University Forward Junior
CHARLES McNEAL Central State University Forward Junior
RAMEL MITCHELL Urbana University Guard Senior
BRIAN GRANT Cedarville University Center Junior
LEE TABB Central State University Center Sophomore
JASON CUFFEE Cedarville University Guard Sophomore
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Every match of the 2012-13 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship is being web-streamed for free with live video, audio, and stats at G-MACsports.com. Photo galleries, video, and game recaps will also be available on G-MACsports.com following the completion of the tournament. To view the streaming broadcasts, simply click the banner ad on the main page for Live Streaming, or click Live Broadcast under the multimedia tab in the main dropdown menu.