Basketball Bulldogs Honored In Season-Ending Awards Banquet
In addition to having participated in their fourth consecutive NCAATournament this past season, coach Rick Stansbury's 23-11 Bulldogs alsoextended their school-record streak by winning 20 or more games for thefourth straight season. For the third time in the last four years, the2004-05 State squad advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament witha dominating 93-70 first-round triumph over Stanford before dropping ahard-fought 63-55 decision to perennial national powerhouse Duke inCharlotte.
Individually, second-team all-SEC swingman and 2005 Cellular SouthHowell Trophy finalist Shane Power earned a team-high four awards on theevening, capping the night's festivities by being presented the prestigiousBabe McCarthy Memorial Award for best exemplifying the highest traits ofcharacter, leadership, desire and hustle. The Crown Point, Ind., nativeclaimed his second straight Best Three-point Field Goal Percentage Awardafter setting a new all-time school standard by connecting on 41.7 percentof his three-point attempts during his two-year State playing career. Inaddition to being one of a half-dozen seniors recognized with personalizedSenior Award plaques on the night, Power, the 2003-04 SEC Scholar-Athlete ofthe Year, also collected MSU's Academic Award for posting the team's highestgrade point average. On the court as a senior, Power averaged 11.1 points,4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest.
Recently named the inaugural winner of the Cellular South Howell Trophyas the state of Mississippi's top male college basketball player,all-American Lawrence Roberts garnered MSU's Bailey Howell Rebounding Awardand Best Offensive Player Award for the second straight season. In becomingthe Bulldogs' first repeat first-team all-SEC performer since current DallasMavericks standout Erick Dampier, Roberts paced the SEC in rebounding (11.0rpg; 8th in the NCAA) and double-doubles (20; T-6th in the NCAA) this pastseason, along with ranking fourth among the league's scoring leaders (16.9ppg), ninth in field-goal percentage (44.8%) and 10th in steals (1.6 spg).An honorable mention Associated Press All-American and a top 10 finalist forthe 2004-05 Senior CLASS Award, Roberts topped all active NCAA Division Imen's basketball players during the course of this past season with a finaltally of 58 career double-doubles.
Also collecting a total of three individual honors on Monday night wassenior guard Winsome Frazier, who picked up his third consecutive Best FreeThrow Percentage Award in addition to earning the team's Best DefensivePlayer Award. The Miami product, who returned to action following a Januaryfoot injury, finished the season as MSU's second-leading scorer (12.3 ppg),as well as completing his four-year collegiate career as the all-timeco-winningest basketball player (with senior center Marcus Campbell) inschool history. Also receiving personalized Senior Award plaques on theevening were Campbell, Ontario Harper and walk-on Seth Cannon.
Junior center Wesley Morgan and sophomore backcourt performer DietricSlater shared this year's Most Improved Player Award for Stansbury'sBulldogs, while sophomore point guard Gary Ervin rounded out this year's MSUstatistical awards by earning the team's Most Assists Award after finishingthe 2004-05 campaign ranked third in the SEC in assists (4.7 apg) andseventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.58:1).