Barton Men Ranked No. 15 in Basketball Times Preseason Poll; Abbey's Good & Barton's Boston Tabbed Preseason All-Americans

10/24/2012 12:00:00 AM

012-13 Basketball Times
NCAA Division II Pre-Season Top 20
1. West Liberty, W. Va. (32-3)
2. Bellarmine, Ky. (29-4)
3. Washburn, Kan. (25-8)
4. Ala.-Huntsville (29-4)
5. Lincoln Memorial, Tenn. (26-6)
6. Metropolitan State, Colo. (25-7)
7. Winston-Salem, N.C. (21-9)
8. Western Washington (31-5)
9. Arkansas Tech (26-6)
10. Tarleton State, Tex. (27-6)
11. Cal Poly Pomona, Calif. (19-8)
12. Midwestern State, Tex. (29-4)
13. Saint Leo, Fla. (18-12)
14. Southwest Minnesota State (19-11)
15. Barton, N.C. (20-10)
16. Indiana, Pa. (23-6)
17. Drury, Mo. (17-11)
18. West Texas A&M (19-9)
19. St. Cloud State, Minn. (20-9)
20. Shaw, N.C. (27-4) 

2012-2013 Basketball Times
NCAA Division II Pre-Season All-Americas
John Allen, Western Washington, 6-0, Sr.
Mitchel Anderson, Calif.-Pomona, 6-4, Sr.
Darrell Blanton, Gannon (Pa.), 6-4, Sr.
Gerald Boston, Barton (N.C.), 5-10, Sr.
Gerald Brooks Slippery Rock (Pa.), 6-5, Sr.
Zane Campbell, Ala.-Huntsville, 6-8, Sr.
Chris Dowe, Bellarmine (Ky.), 6-2, Sr.
Alex Falk, West Liberty (W. Va.), 6-4, Sr.
Tyshawn Good, Belmont Abbey (N.C.), 6-1, Sr.
Marcus Goode, Benedict (S.C.), 6-10, Sr.
Brett Green, Colorado School of Mines, 6-4, Sr.
Alex Hall, Drury (Mo.), 6-2, Sr.
Cedric Harris, West Liberty (W. Va.), 6-0, Jr.
Denzail Jones, Anderson (S.C.), 5-9, Sr..
Dontahe Jordan, Bloomsburg (Pa.), 6-4, Jr.
Kevin Kotzur, Saint Mary's (Texas), 6-8, Sr.
Will McNeill, Washburn (Kan.), 6-0, Sr.
Chad Moore, Shepherd (W.Va.), 6-5, Jr.
Jonathan Morse, Metropolitan State (Colo.), 6-8, Sr.
Nick Novak, Pitt.-Johnstown (Pa.), 6-1, Sr.
Will Reinke, Oklahoma Christian, 6-10, Sr.
Donald Sims, West Texas A&M, 6-5, Sr.
Jaime Smith, Ala.-Huntsville, 6-2, Sr.
Isaac Thornton, Fairmont State (W. Va.), 6-3, Sr.

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-courtesy of Barton Sports Information

by Kevin Buczek

MATTHEWS, N.C.-The Barton College men's basketball team has been selected No. 15 nationally and senior point guard Gerald Boston was named a preseason All-American in the latest edition of the Basketball Times that hit newsstands on Tuesday.

The 2012-13 Barton men's basketball squad that will make its debut in a home exhibition on Wednesday (Oct. 24) night against Athletes in Action has been voted a top-25 program in multiple preseason polls. The Bulldogs were selected No. 21 nationally by the Division II Bulletin and the NABC then confirmed that position with its preseason poll mimicked that of the DII Bulletin. Barton was picked the Conference Carolinas favorites in the leagues preseason coaches' poll.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 20-10 campaign last year that included winning the 2012 Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship and returning to the NCAA Division II Tournament for a sixth time under the leadership of 17th year head coach Ron Lievense. Barton won six consecutive games entering the Southeast Regional including three straight road wins in the Conference Carolinas Tournament to earn the crown for a fourth time in the last seven years before losing to eventual national runner-up University of Montevallo in the first round of the "Big Dance".

Barton joins No. 5 Lincoln Memorial University as the only two Southeast Region teams ranked in the preseason top-20 by the Basketball Times. Barton opens up its season against Shaw University in the Dog House on Wednesday, Nov. 10 in a matchup of two preseason nationally ranked teams by the Basketball Times. The Bears slipped into the last slot at No. 20.

Boston was one of 24 players from across the country in NCAA Division II to earn preseason All-American status by the Basketball Times. Only two other basketball players from the Southeast Region garnered preseason All-American status by the Basketball times in Belmont Abbey College's Tyshawn Good and Anderson University's Denzail Jones.

Boston will once again look to anchor the Bulldogs on both sides of the court. The three-time All-Conference Carolinas selection was a Daktronics Second Team All-Southeast Region honoree in 2012 after being named the Conference Carolinas Tournament MVP.  Offensively, Boston has averaged 16.9 points and 5.3 assists per game for his collegiate career and ranked amongst the nation's leaders in assists and free throw shooting. Boston also thrives on defense averaging 2.6 steals per game over his first three seasons and ranked in the top-10 nationally in steal in both 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Coach Lievense commented, "Gerald [Boston] has proven up to this point to be one of the best guards in the country. We certainly expect that same kind of production out of him this year. For this team to be successful Gerald will need to have a good year and we will need consistent production out of our other upperclassmen.'

Barton returns a veteran squad that features 11 letter winners including five seniors and six juniors. Coach Lievense will complement its returning core with a freshman class of seven newcomers.

Barton will be looking to fill the void left by a talented senior class of five from last season that included three players in Jaren Haley, Joseph Velez and Aaron Suggs that played in all 30 games from a year ago. However, the Bulldogs have a sufficient supporting cast that can step up and become prominent players.

Senior guard Jarrett Jernigan has 80 games of experience for the Royal Blue and White while backcourt classmate Aaron Brown played in every game last season. A group of four junior guards support Barton's perimeter play with Division I transfer Brian McNair making his debut after red shirting last year to go along with Zach Faircloth, Ethan Maske and Favian Beard.

Barton's senior class is rounded out by forwards Jon Hart and Keith Manley, who led the team in rebounding last year with 5.6 and 5.0 rebounds, respectively, last season. Juniors 6-foot-6 Evan Shelton and 6-foot-9 Aaron Coats add depth and experience to the frontcourt.

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Tyshawn Good Named Preseason All-American By Basketball Times Magazine

Tyshawn Good Was Named Preseason All-American

Basketball Times Magazine has named Belmont Abbey senior men's basketball guard Tyshawn Good as one of its NCAA Division II preseason All-Americans. Good, a first-team all-conference selection as well as a second-team all-region honoree, returns for his senior year as the second leading returning scorer nationally. He led Conference Carolinas in scoring at 21.3 points per game. In 16 conference games, he averaged 22.0 points, which also led the league. He scored 574 points. He was also named to the Division II Bulletin's Super 16 Team on October 15.

Good paced an offense that was tops in the conference in team scoring average, which finished fourth among NCAA Division II teams, and he finished the year 14th in the NCAA in scoring.

In 26 games, the Jamaica, New York standout scored at least 30 points three times, and on February 1 he became the 36th player in school history to record 1,000 career points when he totaled 27.

He enters his final year with 1,149 career points, which is 25th on the school's all-time list.