2018-19 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball All-Conference and Major Awards Announced
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Belmont Abbey College guard DeQuan Abrom was voted the 2018-19 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Player of the Year. University of Mount Olive guard Jamaal Matin repeated as the Defensive Player of the Year, while Mount Olive teammate Michael Brown was named Freshman of the Year. TJ Rosene of Emmanuel College took home the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, the Conference announced today.
New to the Conference Carolinas postseason award offering is the Elite 23 Award. The Elite 23 Award is modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumlative GPA at their respective championship site. The inaugural winner for men's basketball is Emmanuel's Jack Fitzpatrick.
Abrom, a junior from Washington, D.C., led Conference Carolinas in scoring by averaging 24.2 points per game on 54.2 percent shooting from the field. Abrom scored in double-figures in all but one contest, while scoring at least 40 points in two games this season, at least 30 points in six games and at least 20 points in 20 games during the regular season. In addition to his 24.2 points per game, he also averaged 3.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals per game.
Matin, a senior from Virginia Beach, Va., becomes the first back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year for the Trojans. He ranked eighth in the conference in total blocks (27), 14th in steals per game (1.2) and 16th in total steals (34). In addition to his defensive prowess, Matin averaged 17.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 47 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from three-point range.
Brown, a native of Winchester, Va., made an immediate impact on the Trojan lineup, starting every game and averaging 10.1 points, 4.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. His assists per game and total assists (142) led Conference Carolinas, while he ranked ninth in the league in assist to turnover ratio (2.0).
Rosene led Emmanuel to a 14-3 conference record to claim the Conference Carolinas regular season title. After ranking fourth in the Conference Carolinas preseason poll, Rosene led his team to 11 consecutive league wins which helped him collect his 11th consecutive 20-win season in Emmanuel's Conference Carolinas debut.
Fitzpatrick, a senior business administration major from Buffalo, N.Y., comes to the Men's Basketball Championship with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. Fitzpatrick has appeared in 32 games and sports a 1.4 assist to turnover ratio.
Abrom and Matin were joined on the first team by Belmont Abbey's Romeao Ferguson, Emmanuel's Kendrick Colvin and Erskine College's Austin Venable.
Men's All-Conference Carolinas First Team
DeQuan Abrom, Belmont Abbey
Kendrick Colvin, Emmanuel
Jamaal Matin, Mount Olive
Romeao Ferguson, Belmont Abbey
Austin Venable, Erskine
Men's All-Conference Carolinas Second Team
Bobby Stenborg, Barton
Jaquan Simms, Limestone
Austin Greene, Emmanuel
Jake Kakar, Barton
Brandon Simpson, Emmanuel
Men's All-Conference Carolinas Third Team
Quay Kimble, Lees-McRae
Michael Boykin, Barton
James Brown, King
Jalen Lowery, Southern Wesleyan
Isaiah Reddish, Barton
Player of the Year
DeQuan Abrom, Belmont Abbey
Defensive Player of the Year
Jamaal Matin, Mount Olive
Freshman of the Year
Michael Brown, Mount Olive
Coach of the Year
TJ Rosene, Emmanuel
Men's Basketball Regular Season Champion
Emmanuel College
Conference Carolinas is a NCAA Division II athletics conference made up of 11 teams from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These institutions consist of: Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Converse College, Emmanuel College, Erskine College, King University, Lees-McRae College, Limestone College, University of Mount Olive, North Greenville University, and Southern Wesleyan University.