Springfield, Ohio – A whopping six Wittenberg University men's basketball student-athletes have been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court in recognition of their athletic and academic accomplishments during the 2013-14 season.
Guard Zack Leahy (Rossford, Ohio/Rossford), guard Steven Newell (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) and forward Cole Bond (Canton, Ohio/St. Thomas Aquinas), all class of 2014, and forward John Albertson (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami), guard Ben Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) and wing Sam Collins (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights), all class of 2015, earned spots on the 2014 NABC Honors Court list. To qualify, a student-athlete must be either a junior or senior and a member of the varsity team while maintaining a 3.2 grade point average or better.
A two-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honoree, Leahy averaged 11.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in 2013-14. Leahy led the team with 85 assists, and he ranked second on the Tigers with 23 steals. Newell topped the Tigers with 51 three-pointers and a .425 three-point shooting percentage as he started all 29 games. He ranked fourth on the team with 6.7 points per game in his fourth straight season as a starter. Bond started 26 games, contributing 4.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Albertson was a key reserve in the post who appeared in 18 games off the bench, while Bowen saw action in 24 games and averaged a 6.7 minutes of playing time. Collins started 28 games, ranking third in scoring with 9.9 points per game to go along with 2.6 rebounds per outing, good for second. He also finished third in assists with 49.
In addition, Wittenberg was among the teams to earn an NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, which was created in 2013 by the organization's Committee on Academics to recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better for an entire school year.
Wittenberg, which has the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA Division III history, posted records of 21-8 overall and 13-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in 2013-14. The Tigers are expected to welcome eight letterwinners back to the line-up for the 2013-14 season, which starts with preseason training trip to Canada in October. The Tigers will play four games in five days while traveling across southern Ontario before returning to Ohio for the traditional start of the campaign.
Written By: Ryan Maurer