LeTourneau receives five post-season awards announced by the league office in conjunction with the release of the 2017 American Southwest Conference Men’s Basketball All-Conference teams on Monday (Feb. 27), following a vote of the league’s head coaches.
Awards for the YellowJackets included Jeff Martin<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3311> being named All-Conference, First Team All-East Division and East Division Player of the Year. Alec Colhoff<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3307> was named First Team All-East Division, Caleb Loggins<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3310> was named East Division Honorable Mention and made the All-Defense Team, Nate West<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3318> was named to the East Division All-Freshman Team. Head Coach Dan Miller<http://letuathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=436> was named the East Division Coach of the Year.
Senior Jeff Martin<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3311> headlined the awards as he was named the East Division Player of the Year. Martin is the first player in LeTourneau history to be named the East Division Player of the Year. Ranked 11th in Division III in assist-turnover ratio (3.4). The Seven Lakes High School product ranks tied for third in the ASC in assists (145), 10th in steals (37) and 13th in field goal percentage (.439). Starting all 25 games for the YellowJackets, Martin recorded five double-doubles and averaged 13.3 points per game. This is the second first-team nomination for Martin as he was named newcomer of the year and first-team in the East Division after the 2016 season. He is the second in program history to earn repeat All-East Division selections, Dewones Smith did so in 2007 and 2008.
He was also named to the 2017 ASC Championship All-Tournament team as he set a tournament record with 26 assists in the three-game series. In all three contests, the Seven Lakes High School product was knocking on the door of what would have been the tournament’s first ever triple-double. He finished with nine points, 10 assists and six rebounds in the championship.
Martin’s averages for the tournament were extremely impressive with 14.3 points, 8 rebounds, and 8.7 assists. The senior point guard was sent off with a standing ovation when he received his all-tournament team award in front of the home crowd. Martin’s 344 career assists rank him fifth all-time at LeTourneau in just two seasons.
Martin was also selected to the prestigious five-player ASC All-Conference Team and the only representative of the East Division. He was joined by Hardin-Simmons senior Nathaniel Jack, Concordia Texas sophomore Joe Neal, Sul Ross State junior Caleb Thomasson and Howard Payne junior Khyce Randall. This is just the second all-conference award in program history, Dale Vanwright earned the honors in 2009.
Alec Colhoff<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3307> joined Martin as a member of the 2017 East Division First Team. Colhoff was one of the most potent scoring threats in the conference from 3-point range. His 82 made 3-point field goals are the most in a single-season in program history. The junior guard shot at a .461 (82-178) percent clip in a breakout season for the YellowJackets, finishing ranked 11th in the ASC in scoring at 16.3 points per contest. Colhoff was second in the conference in free throw percentage at .875 percent (3rd in LETU history).
His ASC Championship performance was one for the ages as he scored a game-high 32 points, all in the second half. The junior guard was 9-of-14 from 3-point range, tying a school record set by Kendrick Brooks in 1998. Colhoff shot .750 (9-12) from behind the arc in the second half and averaged 19 points in the tournament.
Caleb Loggins<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3310> was recognized as an East Division Honorable Mention and was named to the All-Defensive Team. He is the fifth YellowJacket in program history to earn all-defensive team honors. Loggins guarded the opposing team’s best player if they played any of the front court positions and rose to every challenge throughout the season. The sophomore forward finished with 47 blocks on the year which ties him for third in school history for single-season blocks. It also ranked him sixth in the ASC this season at 1.7 per contest. Loggins also finished 20th in conference rebounding at 6 per game.
Nate West<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3318> finished his breakout rookie season being named to the East Division All-Freshman team. He is the 12thYellowJacket to earn all-freshman team honors and the third in the past two seasons. Caleb Loggins<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3310> and Christian Seidl<http://letuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3315> were named after the 2016 season. West finished fifth in ASC in free throw percentage .846 including two clutch free throws in the tournament semifinals to seal the victory over Concordia. The Strake Jesuit product was 12th in 3-point field goal percentage at .363 and seventh in 3-point field goals made with 2.4 per game. He was the highest-scoring freshman in the conference at 14 points per game finishing 19th overall in scoring in the ASC.
LeTourneau head coach Dan Miller<http://letuathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=436> was named the East Division Coach of the Year after leading the YellowJackets to their first East Division title and a team record 20 overall wins in the regular season. Among those 20 wins was the program’s longest winning streak as they rattled off 12 wins in-a-row stretching from December 17th, 2016 to January 28th, 2017.
LETU also won their first ASC tournament game and advanced to the championship game, finishing as the runner-up behind the South Region’s No. 1 team, Hardin-Simmons. It was their fifth tournament appearance in program history and the YellowJackets are now 2-5 in postseason play.
LeTourneau finished at 22-6 overall and 12-4 in the ASC. Their home record of 16-2 is the best in the conference and best in program history. Hardin-Simmons was responsible for both losses this season at Solheim Arena. LETU finished the season ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III South Region polls, their highest ranking in school history.
EastTexasRadio.com Powered by Ten Stations
