The South Atlantic Conference Announces Men's Basketball Annual Awards (Video)

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSac.com) – Lenoir-Rhyne guard Keenan Palmore was voted the 2015-16 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, while Anderson's Randall Shaw was voted the Conference's Freshman of the Year.  In addition, Lincoln Memorial mentor Josh Schertz was tabbed the Coach of the Year, the League announced today.

Palmore, a senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the South Atlantic Conference with 22.1 points, 6.8 assists and 9.4 rebounds per game.  He posted four 30-point games during the regular season, including 14 games with 20 or more points.  Palmore is currently ranked No. 8 in Division II with 189 assists and leads the nation with four triple-doubles this season.  He connected on a League-best 239 field goals on the year to go along with a Conference-best 262 total rebounds.  Palmore notched back-to-back 30-point games against Lincoln Memorial and Catawba.  Palmore earned National Player of the Week honors for his play during the final week of the regular season.   He received five first-place votes and finished with 34 points from the panel.

Shaw, a guard from Greenville, S.C., led his team in scoring with 19.8 points per game during the 2015-16 campaign.  A hot shooter from downtown, he finished his season ranked No. 6 in the League with 68 three-pointers made.  Shaw got his collegiate career started with 31 points in an Anderson win over Armstrong State on Nov. 14.  He posted 15 20-point games this season and was in double-digits in scoring in 22 contests this season.  Shaw notched 10 first-place votes from the coaches to finish with 54 points in the voting.

Schertz became the first-ever South Atlantic Conference men's basketball coach to lead his team to four-straight South Atlantic Conference Championships after claiming the 2015-16 South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Title.  His Railsplitters are the only team in the rich South Atlantic Conference history to finish the season undefeated in League play as Lincoln Memorial went 22-0 on the year.  Lincoln Memorial is the hottest three-point shooing team in the nation as they are No. 1 with a 44 percent stroke from long range.  The Railsplitters are averaging 96 points per game to rank No. 2 in Division II and are out-scoring opponents by an average margin of 19.5 points per game to rank second in the nation.  Lincoln Memorial is No. 2 in the country with 17.2 assists per game and are No. 3 in Division II with a 51.4 field goal percentage.  The Railsplitters went for over 100 points in 13 contests this season and are currently ranked No. 2 by the National Basketball Coaches Association.  Shertz picked up nine first-place votes by his peers and finished with 48 points in the voting.

Lincoln Memorial and Queens put a pair of student-athletes on the first team.  Gerel Simmons and Luquon Choice represented the Railsplitters, while Sean Morgan and Rob Lewis earned the honor for the Royals.  Charles Clark of Carson-Newman joined Palmore on the first team to round out the list of first-team honorees.

First Team
Keenan Palmore, Lenoir-Rhyne
Gerel Simmons, Lincoln Memorial
Luquon Choice, Lincoln Memorial
Rob Lewis, Queens
Charles Clark, Carson-Newman
Sean Morgan, Queens

Statistical Champions
Points Per Game – Keenan Palmore, Lenoir-Rhyne, 22.0
Three Pointers Per Game – Luquon Choice, Lincoln Memorial, 3.61
Rebounds Per Game – Keenan Palmore, Lenoir-Rhyne, 9.6
Blocked Shots Per Game – Emmanuel Terry, Lincoln memorial, 1.88
Field Goal Percentage - Sean Morgan, Queens, 69.7
Assists Per Game – Keenan Palmore, Lenoir-Rhyne, 6.9
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio – Kendall Patterson, Tusculum, 2.21
Steals Per Game – Gerald Evans, Newberry, 2.12
Three Point Field Goal Percentage - Luquon Choice, Lincoln Memorial, 49.0
Free Throw Percentage – Will Perry, Lenoir-Rhyne, 89.8
Team Scoring Offense – Lincoln Memorial, 96.0
Team Steals - Newberry, 291
Team Field Goal Percentage –Carson-Newman, 52.5
Team FG Percentage Defense - Lincoln Memorial, 40.9
Team Assists – Lincoln Memorial, 481
Team Rebounding - Lincoln Memorial, 1,191
Team Blocked Shots – Wingate, 143
Team Three Point FG Percentage - Lincoln Memorial, 44.0
Team Scoring Defense – Wingate, 71.8
Team Free Throw Percentage – Lenoir-Rhyne, 73.4
Team Assist-to-Turnover Ratio - Lincoln Memorial, 1.45