Adrian ThomasSewanee sophomore Adrian Thomas from McCallie School was announced Friday as the men's basketball player of the year in the Southern Athletic Association.
Teammates Cam Caldwell and Luke Smith also won superlatives, Caldwell as SAA defensive player of the year and Smith as newcomer of the year, and Sewanee's Bella Taylor and Hannah McCormack were All-SAA first-team women's selections after finishing first and second in the league with 20.8 and 17.5 points a game in the regular season.
Taylor had 28 points and nine rebounds in the 10-15 Tigers' season-ending 76-61 loss to second-seeded Rhodes in the league tournament Friday at Oglethorpe. McCormack was next with 11 points.
The No. 2-seeded Sewanee men (14-11) also lost in their quarterfinal Friday at Centre, 69-67 to the 6-20 Hendrix team they had beat 83-70 and 77-56 last month. Thomas had 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists in defeat, while Caldwell scored 13 points, Matt Lee 12, Hunter Buecher 10 and Smith nine.
Thomas averaged 18.5 points and 9.6 rebounds in the regular season, when Smith led all SAA freshmen with 15.5 points and 4.3 assists per game.
-Covenant 81, North Carolina Wesleyan 80: At Maryville, Tenn., Caleb Haynes' putback with 0.3 second remaining gave the Scots a dramatic win and a spot in today's 6 p.m. championship game of the USA South tournament.
Patjo Twagirayezu scored 17 points and Haynes had 14 plus 13 rebounds for Covenant (18-9), while James Mitchell hit four 3-point baskets for 12 points and Berto Dryden and Will Crumly also scored 12 each. Dryden added eight assists and Bailey Spragg had 10 assists and four steals with nine points.
-Reinhardt women 65, Tennessee Wesleyan 50: At Kingsport, Tenn., the top-seeded Eagles did their part in setting up a rematch for the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament championship today at 4 p.m. Reinhardt (26-8) and Bryan tied for the regular-season title and had a playoff this past Monday.
Calhoun, Ga., resident JessAnn Nix shared Eagles scoring honors Friday with 12 points. Madison Walkup and Hunter Simpson had 14 and 10 for TWU (18-11).
-Bryan women 81, Allen 69: Also at Kingsport, the Lady Lions (24-9) assured themselves a berth in the NAIA Division II national tournament with 18 points and 10 rebounds from Amber Levi and 17 and 16 points from Shayla Ludy and Karli Combs. Tonesha Allison collected nine rebounds.
-Cleveland State 98, Dyersburg State 55: At Cleveland, Tenn., Victor Curry had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Tevin Olison, Cam Copeland and Darius Turman scored a dozen points each in the Cougars' TCCAA rom. Collin Herron scored 11 points and Copeland had five assists.
-Cleveland State women 69, Dyersburg State 68: Abby Hubert scored 23 points and Ebony Kelley had 17 points and four steals in the Lady Cougars' win, while Keya Jenkins and Julia Gaither had 13 and 11 points and 13 and 10 rebounds. Gaither added six assists and five steals.