Springfield, Ohio – Three former members of Wittenberg University’s men’s basketball program have been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court in recognition of their athletic and academic accomplishments during the 2014-15 season.
Forward John Albertson (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami), guard Ben Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) and wing Sam Collins (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights), all of whom graduated with Wittenberg’s class of 2015 in May, earned spots on the 2015 NABC Honors Court list. It was the second award for each of them.
To qualify for the NABC Honors Court, 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 record 1,000 student-athletes from more than 350 colleges and universities, representing NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA Division I and II, have been recognized in 2015.
“John, Ben and Sam always demonstrated to teammates and coaches that they were here to maximize their investment in a college education by working to achieve in the classroom, by serving as responsible leaders around campus, and as competitive college-athletes on the basketball court,” said Head Coach Bill Brown. “They each served as excellent role models for the younger student-athletes in the program.”
Albertson was a key reserve in the post who scored 3.0 points per game in 21 appearances, while Bowen saw action in all 26 games, primarily off the bench, and averaged 2.7 points per contest. Collins started 15 games, ranking fourth on the team in scoring with 6.6 points per game to go along with 3.2 rebounds per outing. He also finished fourth in assists with 34.
Wittenberg, which has the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA Division III history, posted records of 10-16 overall and 8-10 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in 2014-15, the first losing season for the program in an NCAA-record 60 years. The Tigers are expected to welcome eight letterwinners back to the line-up for the 2015-16 season, which opens with the NCAC-OAC Challenge. The Tigers will take on Capital at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, and then will host Otterbein at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, both as part of a doubleheader involving top teams from the North Coast Athletic Conference and Ohio Athletic Conference.
Written By: Ryan Maurer