VWC's Adair Named to Second Team
SALEM Va. --- Guilford's Ben Strong continues
to garner some impressive postseason press, with this latest honor
the most notable. Already honored with the Old Dominion
Athletic Conference (ODAC) and South Region top play honors, Strong
was selected as the D3hoops.com National Player of the Year during
championship weekend.
Joining Strong as an ODAC representative is former conference
player of the year, Virginia Wesleyan College's Brandon Adair.
Strong led Guilford to a second place finish in the ODAC regular
season and a trip to the NCAA tournament in which his Quakers fell
one victory short of traveling to Salem, Virginia, for the NCAA
Division III Championship Series.
Strong finished the season in the top 15 in several national
categories including a fourth place showing in scoring at 25.4
points per contest. He was one of only two players to score
more than 700 points this season (737: Mt. St. Mary's Mike Hoyt
scored 898 pts.). Strong finished eight in the nation in
rebounding at 11.2 boards per contest, and placed 13th in blocked
shots with 2.5 per contest (72 total).
The 6-foot 11-inch center's shining moment came in Guilford's NCAA
sectional opener against Lincoln University. Strong burned
the Lions for 59 points, tied for the second highest single-game
total this season. He connected on 20-of-27 shots from the
field and hit 19-of-22 free throws. He also corralled 13
rebounds and blocked four shots in the effort. Strong
followed that performance with 34 points and 17 rebounds in the
Quakers' NCAA sectional finals loss to Virginia Wesleyan.
VWC's Adair led his Marlins back to the NCAA D-III title game for
the second straight season. After winning the national title
a season ago, the Marlins came up short in this year's title bout,
falling to Amherst College 80-67. Adair was named to the
All-Championship Series Team after averaging 21 points and 5.5
rebounds in the two games. Against Washington University in
the second national semifinal game, Adair made all 12 of his shots
from the field, setting a new D-III men's basketball championship
series record for field goal percentage.
For the season, Adair finished tied for second in the conference at
17.8 points per game. He was also third in the conference in
rebounding at 7.7 boards per game. On the national scene,
Adair was second in the nation with .691 shooting percentage
(246-of-356).
To learn of the rest of the selections to the teams, please visit
www.d3hoops.com.