RELEASE – Indianapolis, In- Five SBU Men’s Basketball members received GLVC postseason honors, as announced by the conference office this afternoon. Senior Guard Quinn Nelson earned SBU’s first GLVC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year award. Head coach Clark Sheehy received GLVC Men’s Basketball Co-Coach of the year, as voted on by the head coaches. Mitch Ganote earned All-Conference 1st team and All-Defensive team, Jalil Beaubrun earned All-Conference 2nd team and All-Defensive team, and RJ Crawford was the SBU recipient of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship award.
Sheehy, in his 8th season as a Bearcat, led the team to a 21-5 overall record and a 15-4 conference record becoming SBU’s first GLVC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year. That conference record led the Bearcats to becoming the top overall seed in the conference tournament, as well as the best record in the conference. He is coming off a shortened season of just conference play, where he led SBU to a 15-6 conference record and the #3 seed in the conference tournament. He also collected his 100th career SBU win back on November 20th against Pitt St. University.
Nelson helped lead the Bearcats to their best season since 2008-2009, becoming the first SBU Men’s Basketball GLVC Player of the Year. He led the team in points averaging 14.8 PPG ranking him 11th in the conference. He was 5th in the conference in FG% shooting at a 51.7% clip, and 2nd in 3-PT% knocking down 74 threes at 44.3%, 17th in the Nation. Nelson also led the team in free throw percentage going 86%, along with averaging 2.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. Nelson was also unanimously selected to All-Conference 1st team, after being 2nd team just a season ago.
Junior Guard Mitch Ganote was another Bearcat unanimously selected to the GLVC All-Conference 1st team, along with being selected to the All-Defensive team. This two-year starting point guard for the Bearcats is the anchor both offensively and defensively. He was the second leading scorer on the team at 13.4 PPG and led the conference in assists at 5.2 per game, 28th in the nation. He also led the team in rebounding averaging 6.2 per game sitting at 13th in the conference. Additionally, Ganote was third in the conference averaging 1.8 steals per game.
Sophomore Forward Jalil Beaubrun was rewarded with GLVC All-Conference 2nd team and GLVC All-Defensive team. In his second season as a Bearcat, he started in all 22 games he played in with averaging 12.1 points per game and 6 rebounds per game, with 3 double-doubles. He shot right at 50% from the field and made 18 of his 40 three pointers for 45%. Beaubrun made it to the All-Defensive team for his strong presence inside the paint. He led the conference in blocks at 38 on the season and averaged 1.73 per game for 26th in the Nation.
Sophomore RJ Crawford had a breakout season for the Bearcats being a big factor in their 21-wins. He was the SBU recipient for the sportsmanship award, which goes to athletes that ‘demonstrate fairness, graciousness and respect toward teammates, opposing teams, coaches, and officials before, during, and after competition.’ Crawford started in every game this season and after scoring 6.6 PPG his freshman season, he nearly doubled that averaging 13.0 PPG this year. He shot 49.2% from the field, having the second most field goals and second most 3-PT field goals on the team.
The Bearcats begin their postseason play as the #1 seed in the conference tournament this Thursday against the #8 seed William Jewell Cardinals. The game will take place at a neutral site in Edwardsville, Illinois on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
