Springfield, Ohio — Wittenberg University men's basketball standouts Chris Sullivan, class of 2011 from Columbus, Ohio, and Clayton Black, class of 2012 from Lancaster, Ohio, have earned first- and third-team All-Great Lakes Region honors, respectively, from d3hoops.com. Black also earned second-team all-region honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
It was the first all-region award for either student-athlete. Sullivan is now eligible for the d3hoops.com All-America team, which will be announced on Saturday, March 19, during the website's broadcast of the NCAA Division III national championship game.
Sullivan built on a strong 2009-10 season that included second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honors with a record-setting performance in 2010-11. He moved up to first-team All-NCAC after ranking second on the team with 14.9 points per game and leading the Tigers with 36 steals. He also led the team with 30.4 minutes per game and by making 80.6 percent of his free throws.
Most significantly, Sullivan established new standards for both the Wittenberg program and the NCAC with 120 three-pointers on 304 attempts in 2010-11. He finished the year ranked No. 1 in all of NCAA Division III with 4.1 made three-pointers per game in 2010-11. He also finished fifth in the NCAC and 44th in the nation by hitting 39.5 percent of his three-point field goals, in addition to tying a school record with nine three-pointers (on 11 attempts) in a Feb. 25 NCAC Tournament semifinal victory over Wabash.
Sullivan, who also set the Wittenberg record for career three-pointers, has developed his own interdepartmental major in sports business. He is active in a variety of other clubs and organizations around campus, including the Tiger Sports Network. He has served as a commentator for Wittenberg softball and soccer games over the last two years.
After a breakout sophomore campaign, Black emerged as one of the top players in the NCAC in 2010-11, earning first-team all-conference honors. He topped the Tigers with 15.2 points per game, and he ranked second on the squad with 5.4 rebounds per outing.
Black, who was named first-team All-NCAC in 2010-11, ranked second on the team with a 56.4 shooting percentage from the field, and he also paced the Tigers by a wide margin with 28 blocked shots. He finished the season ranked seventh in the conference in scoring, 16th in rebounding, fourth in field goal percentage and fourth in blocked shots per game.
A philosophy major, Black currently has a 3.55 grade point average, which earned him third-team Capital One Academic All-District honors. In addition to his exploits on the basketball court and in the classroom, Black is a leader in a variety of extracurricular activities, including the student-run radio station, WUSO 89.1-FM, where he serves as a board member, and Wittenberg's caving club scientific journal Pholeos. He serves as the journal's editor.
The Tigers finished second in the NCAC regular season title chase with a 12-3 record before advancing to the NCAC Tournament title game. After a loss to Wooster, the Tigers were given new life with an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament, in which they advanced to the second round before losing on a last-second shot to host Marietta. Wittenberg finished the season with a 20-9 overall record.
Written By: Ryan Maurer
Photo By: Erin Pence
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