Four SSC Athletes Named to the 2016-17 All-South Region Men's Basketball Team
Melbourne, Fla. - The 2016-17 Men's Basketball All-South Region First and Second Teams were announced Monday, March 13th. Barry University's Elvar Fridriksson was named D2CCA All-South Region First Team, while three other Sunshine State Conference student-athletes earned second team honors.
First Team All-South Region
Elvar Fridriksson / Barry University / Sr. / Guard / Njardvik, Iceland
Fridriksson, a 6-0, 165 junior point guard from Njardvik, Iceland, averaged 17.4 points, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game on a Buccaneers team that went 23-7 with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Fridriksson ranks fifth in the nation in assists per game. He was the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, and scored a career-high 37 points, while reaching double figures in every game but four. He scored 30 or more points three times.
Second Team All-South Region
Adrian Gonzalez / Barry University / Sr. / Forward / Miami, Florida
Gonzalez, a First Team All-SSC selection, averaged a team-best 19.8 points per game, while pulling down 4.4 rebounds and shooting 60.1 percent from the field. He was an 88 percent free throw shooter, and had a career-high 37 points in a win over Indianapolis on Dec. 19. He scored in double figures in every game but four, and had 30 or more in six games. He was named the SSC Player of the Week three times. Gonzalez became the fourth player in school history to score 1,500 career points.
Marcus Dewberry / Saint Leo University / Sr. / Guard / Lake Wales, Florida
Dewberry, a First Team All-Sunshine State Conference selection, adds his second team honors to his first team honors a year ago. Dewberry closed out his four-year career with 1,524 points, 436 rebounds, 406 assists and 133 steals. He left his mark in the program record books ranking in the top 10 in five major categories all-time in program history with his best of fourth in assists (406) and three-point field goals made (193). Dewberry ranks seventh all-time in scoring (1,524), eighth in steals (133) and ninth in free throws made (277)
Drushawn McLaurn / Eckerd College / Sr. / Guard-Forward / Jacksonville, Florida
McLaurn, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Jacksonville, Florida, averaged 16.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Tritons on his way to earning first-team All-SSC honors. McLaurn shot 55.4 percent from the floor for the season and led Eckerd in trips to the free throw line with 172 attempts.After making the conference's all-newcomer team last season, McLaurn flourished in his role as a starter in his sophomore campaign. He was named SSC Player of the Week and SSC Defensive Player of the Week during the season. He twice scored a career-high 30 points with one of those performances coming during the South Region tournament.
About the D2CAA All-Region Teams
Sports information directors from NCAA Division II South Region schools and conferences selected the two D2CCA All-South Region teams.
This year's D2CCA Men's Basketball All-America Team will be announced on Monday, March 20. The first team members from each of the country's eight regions are placed on the All-American ballot with the Division II SIDs selecting first, second and third-team All-America honorees.
The Division II Conference Commissioners Association encourages and promotes Division II athletics and high standards of sportsmanship as important elements of higher education. The CCA is a key communications link among the conferences as they discuss views, policies and regulations that impact Division II intercollegiate athletics and works closely with the NCAA as a communications channel to NCAA Division II member colleges and universities.
2016-17 D2CCA All-South Region Teams
First Team?Name, School (Position, Year, Hometown)
*~Devin Schmidt, Delta State University (Guard | Senior | Sevierville, Tenn.)
Elvar Fridriksson, Barry University (Guard | Junior | Njardvik, Iceland)
~Seab Webster, University of Alabama at Huntsville (Forward | Senior | Gurley, Alabama)
Jeremiah Hill, Valdosta State University (Guard | Senior | Savannah, Georgia)
^Phil Taylor, Shorter University (Guard | Junior | Brooklyn, New York)
Second Team
~Marcus Dewberry, Saint Leo University (Guard | Senior | Lake Wales, Florida)
Adrian Gonzalez, Barry University (Forward | Senior | Miami, Florida)
Drushaun McLaurn, Eckerd College (Guard-Forward |Sophomore | Jacksonville, Florida)
Kendarius Ash, Lane College (Forward | Sophomore| Decatur, Georgia)
Adam Dieball, Christian Brothers University (Forward |Sophomore | Cincinnati, Ohio)
~ - denotes First-Team All-Region selection in 2015-16
^ - denotes Second-Team All-Region selection in 2015-16
* - denotes First-Team All-Region selection in 2014-15
South Region Player of the Year - Phil Taylor, Shorter University