Cowboys Claim Second Straight ASC Title - Feb 26, 2017
Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team held off LeTourneau, 104-92, to claim its second straight American Southwest Conference title on Saturday evening at Solheim Arena in Longview. The Cowboys received huge efforts from its veterans and Nathaniel Jack (6'3''-F) was named the MVP of the tournament after scoring a career-best 32 points and hauling down 14 rebounds. Duane Hopper scored a career-best 30 points. "Our core guys have been through every situation and they never flinched," said HSU head coach Craig Carse . "We know what we need to do at each point of the game and they just respond. They have worked hard for this." HSU came out focused and jumped out to an 18-2 lead with nine points by Hopper. LeTourneau cut it to 10 at 21-11, but HSU continued to build the lead and Justin Jones slam at the halftime buzzer gave the Cowboys a 49-27 lead. LeTourneau did not go away as the Yellowjackets came out on fire in the second half and scored the first 13 points. Alec Colhoff (6'3''-G) had a half for the ages as he hit 9-of-12 3-pointers in the second half and had 32 points in the period to bring the Yellowjackets back. The run continued out to a 30-5 run and at the 14:35 mark LeTourneau trailed 57-54. Then the Cowboys regained their momentum and pushed the lead back to a comfortable margin and never let LeTourneau to get all the way back. Colhoff led the Yellowjackets with 32 points and Nate West (5'10''-PG) added 26. Christian O'Neal, Hopper and Jack were named to the all-tournament team. HSU is now 22-6 on the year and will play in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The field will be announced on Monday on NCAA.com. LeTourneau is also 22-6 on the year and will hope for an at-large bid from the NCAA Committee.
Player of the Year: Nathaniel
Jack (6'3''-F)
of Hardin-Simmons
Defensive Player of the Year: Justin
Jones (6'8''-C)
of Hardin-Simmons
Freshman of the Year: Kaan
Yilmaz (6'8''-F)
of McMurry
Newcomer of the Year: C.J.
Ross (6'3''-G)
of Sul Ross St.
Sportsmanship Award: J
Bailey (6'7''-F)
of Howard Payne
Coach of the Year: Craig
Carse of
Hardin-Simmons
All-Freshman Team
F: Kaan
Yilmaz (6'8''-F)
of McMurry
PG: De'Marcus
Hurd (6'0''-PG)
of Howard Payne
: Ryan
Lang (6'6'')
of Mary Hardin Baylor
G: Zacc
Carter (6'1''-G)
of McMurry
G: Darius
Watts (6'6''-G)
of McMurry
All-ASC East Division 1st Team 2017
Martin
Banks
Francis
Quillian
Colhoff
Player of the Year: Jeff
Martin (5'11''-PG-95)
of LeTourneau
Defensive Player of the Year: Reagan
Keogh (6'6''-F)
of Texas Dallas
Freshman of the Year: Dimitrius
Underwood (6'5''-G)
of Texas Dallas
Newcomer of the Year: Jordan
Francis (6'3''-G)
of Texas Tyler
Sportsmanship Award: Josh
Ferrell (6'1''-G)
of Ozarks
Coach of the Year: Dan
Miller of
LeTourneau
Carse
