Teammate Snipes Named All-South Region Second Team

GREENSBORO, N.C. --- The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) named Guilford College's Ben Strong as its NCAA Division III Co-Player of the Year Thursday. Teammate Jordan Snipes earned NABC Second Team All-South Region honors.

A committee of NABC members selected the national award winners from the top vote-getters in each of the NABC's eight regions. Each of the top vote-getters received NABC First Team All-America and regional player of the year honors. Strong, a second team all-region pick in 2006, represented the south region.

Strong shares the nation's top award with Amherst College's Andrew Olson, who helped the Lord Jeffs to a 30-2 record and the Division III national title. Both students will be recognized April 1 at the annual NABC Awards Show, presented by AT&T, at the Sydney Marcus Auditorium at the Georgia World Congress Center. The awards show is held in conjunction with the NABC Convention and the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Final Four in Atlanta.

The announcement marks Strong's second national player of the year award, as he won D3hoops.com's top honor Saturday. The 6-11 junior center averaged 25.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 29 games. He ranked fourth among the national leaders in scoring, ninth in rebounding and 12th in blocks per game. Strong won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) Player of the Year Award and was a five-time ODAC Player of the Week. He also ranked 40th among the national field-goal percentage leaders (.585) and made a team-leading 79.7 percent of his free throws. His 737 points and 25.4 scoring average rank fourth in school history, first among Guilford's Division III students. He recorded 18 double-doubles this year and scored at least 20 points in 19 games. The Quakers' top rebounder had 18 games with 10 or more boards, including a career-high 19 caroms in Guilford's Jan. 13 win over Emory & Henry College.

Strong poured in an NCAA Division III Tournament-record 59 points, including the winning free throw with 12.2 seconds left, in Guilford's 129-128 triple-overtime win over Lincoln (Pa.) University in the third round of the NCAA playoffs. The performance stands second to Austin Carr's 61-point effort for Notre Dame against Ohio University in 1970 in NCAA men's basketball championships history. Strong's 59 points set league and school scoring marks and helped him win the Most Outstanding Player Award at the four-team NCAA sectional tournament. He enters his senior season ranked 13th in school history with 1,494 career points in 83 games.

Snipes averaged 17.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his finest college campaign. The 6-4 senior guard earned Second Team All-South honors from D3hoops.com and First Team All-ODAC laurels. An ODAC Player of the Week, Snipes led Guilford's scorers eight times and made a team- and career-high 44 three-pointers, the sixth-best total in school history. His 511 points and 17.6 points per game rank second and third, respectively, in Guilford's Division III history. He joined Strong on the NCAA Division III All-Sectional Tournament Team after averaging 19.5 points and eight rebounds in the Quakers' two games. Snipes played in a March 18 all-star game between seniors from the ODAC and the USA South Athletic Conference and helped the winning ODAC squad with nine points.

Snipes recorded two double-doubles this season and scored a career-high 41 points in Guilford's Jan. 13 win over Emory and Henry, second only to Strong's 59 in the Quakers' Division III history. He scored 32 points and had 10 rebounds in his final home game, a Feb. 18 win over Washington and Lee University. His running three-pointer at the buzzer forced overtime in Guilford's 129-128 triple-overtime win over Lincoln (Pa.) University in the third round of the NCAA playoffs.

A transfer from Methodist College, Snipes played in 82 Guilford games with 75 starts and averaged 13.3 points per game, the third-highest scoring average in the Quakers' Division III history. He reached the 1,000 career points plateau this year and finished with 1,149 points. His 1,093 points as a Quaker stand 23rd in the school's 93-year history. Snipes ranks among Guilford's Division III career assist (7th, 191) and rebounding (9th, 354) leaders and stands third in three-point field goals (120). His career free-throw percentage (.762) is second-best in Guilford's Division III history.

Strong and Snipes helped coach Tom Palombo's Quakers to their best record (24-5) in over 30 years and their first NCAA Division III playoff appearance. The Quakers won three NCAA games to reach the tournament quarterfinals before falling to eventual national runner-up Virginia Wesleyan, 81-71, March 10. Guilford won a school-record 15 ODAC games and earned the second seed for the league's eight-team tournament, also an all-time high. Strong is one of 13 letter winners due back in 2007.

This release is courtesy of the Guilford College sports information department.