For the second year in a row, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s basketball team has had a major Canada West Award Winner.
Greg Stewart (5
th year, post, Kamloops, BC) has been named the Canada West Defensive Player of the Year. This is the second straight season that the 7’2” Stewart has won the accolade. Stewart was the league’s top rebounder as he averaged 13.3 per game. He led in offensive and defensive rebounds. Offensively, he averaged 4.1 per game getting 98 in 24 games. Defensively, he had 222 in 24 games for an average of 9.3 per game. Stewart was also the Canada West’s top shot blocker with 56 in 24 games for an average of 2.3.
“I’m happy for Greg,” says WolfPack head coach Scott Clark. “ It is a great individual honor. And for him to win it for a second year shows the talent that he possesses. Every team we played against had to take into his account his defensive abilities.”
Stewart, a Human Resource Management student at TRU, was a member of Canada's National Sitting men's volleyball team that went to the 2010 World Championships, and has been involved in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in Kamloops, B.C. for the last two years.
Stewart, who plays missing his arm below the left elbow, would like to play basketball professionally in Europe.
The announcement was made this morning (Friday Mar 4) following a selection process conducted by Canada head coaches. Here are the other Award Winners:
Most Valuable Player, point guard Jamelle Barrett of the Saskatchewan Huskies, became the first player to lead the conference in points per game (25), assists per game (6.8) and steals (2.5). He finished second in CIS points per game and led the nation in total assists (162), average assists (6.8) and total steals (60).
Over the season, the third-year Arts & Science student from Rancho Cordova, California tied the Canada West single-season record for total assists, with 162, scored a season-high 42 points in one game against a nationally ranked team back in January, and helped the Huskies to a 20-4 conference record.
Freshman forward Matt Letkeman of the Calgary Dinos is the Rookie of the Year.
A first-year Kinesiology student out of Yale High School in Abbotsford, B.C., the 6-7 forward played big minutes for the Dinos in his rookie campaign. He started 19 of 24 conference games, averaging better than 19 minutes and scoring an average of 8.5 points per game. His field goal percentage was a solid .503, 15th-best in the conference. He also finished top-15 in blocked shots with 15.
He posted a season-high 24 points on Feb. 5 and he recorded a pair of double-doubles on the season.
Trinity Western forward Tyrell Mara has been named the Canada West nominee for the Ken Shields Award as top student-athlete. The fifth-year Masters of Business student has been a top defensive player and rebounder in Canada West this past season and an inspirational leader both on and off the court for the Spartans. Mara finished the regular season averaging 11 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Off the court, Mara led the team in a program for underprivileged children in inner-city Langley this season, which usually took one to two hours before Saturday home games and on Sunday's Tyrell cooks meals for the homeless at a local Church and volunteers on a regular basis to cook and interact with the homeless. In addition to all this Tyrell is also finishing is MBA this year at TWU.
In addition the native of White Rock, B.C. volunteer coaches at a local high school. He also trains individual athletes and coordinates a weekly program for Cairn youth in downtown Langley, where each week Tyrell leads a basketball course for grades 4-6 children from this large and underprivileged immigrant population.
For the second consecutive season, and the fifth time in his 11 seasons at UBC, Kevin Hanson has been tabbed by his peers as the conference's Coach of the Year.
UBC topped the conference standings with a 22-2 record and each of their losses, to Saskatchewan and Alberta, were by came by one and two points, respectively. The Thunderbirds were ranked No. 2 in CIS for 12 of the 14 Top 10 polls and closed the Canada West regular season with an 18-game winning streak, now at 20 as they host the Canada West Final Four this weekend.
Under Hanson's direction, the T-Birds topped the conference with a +22.8 scoring margin, thanks to their second-ranked offence (94.8 ppg) and second-ranked defence (72 ppg allowed). Hanson achieved this standout season while managing the deepest bench in the conference. The UBC roster features 10 players that each average over 11 minutes per game, with no player seeing more than 30 minutes per contest.
Among the 2010-11 All-Star selections are Barrett, 2010 CIS Player of the Year, Josh Whyte (UBC), 2010 Canada West Rookie of the Year, Jordan Baker (Alberta), along with Jacob Doerksen, who was 2009 CIS Player of the Year and 2006 CIS Rookie of the Year. Tyler Fidler of Calgary, 2008 Canada West Rookie of the Year, also makes the All-Conference squad.
Of note is that Doerksen has become a five-time Canada West All-Star (UVic 2006 & 2007, TWU 2009, 2010, 2011). While there is no official record of the last Canada West player to accomplish the feat, Karl Tilleman of the Calgary Dinos was also a five-time CW men's basketball All-Star (1980-84).
Following is a breakdown of individual award winners and All-Stars:
AWARDS
MVP: Jamelle Barrett, Saskatchewan
Rookie of the Year: Matt Letkeman, Calgary
Defensive Player of the Year: Greg Stewart, Thompson Rivers
Ken Shields Award nominee: Tyrell Mara, Trinity Western
Coach of the Year: Kevin Hanson, UBC
ALL-STARS
First Team Second Team
Jamelle Barrett, Saskatchewan Ryan MacKinnon, Victoria
Jacob Doerksen, Trinity Western Rejean Chabot, Saskatchewan
Josh Whyte, UBC Tyler Fidler, Calgary
Jordan Baker, Alberta Alex Murphy, UBC
Daniel Ferguson, Alberta Joel Friesen, Fraser Valley
Individual award winners are now considered for national honours, to be handed out by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) at 2011 Nationals, hosted by the AUS March 11-13 in Halifax.
(With Help from Canada West Media Releations)
