Bowling Green, KY – After having the best regular season in the last two decades, UC earns a trio of top Mid-South Conference honors and names three to the MSC First-Team, conference officials announced Friday afternoon.
Jonathan Brown was named the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year, the first Patriot to earn this honor since 2009. Freshman,
Tajahri Cave was voted MSC Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged over 1.1 steals per game and brought full-court on-ball pressure every time he was on the floor. Cave went for a season-high seven steals earlier this year and had four in UC's regular season finale against the Bethel Wildcats. Coach
Matt Daniel rounded out UC's top honorees after being awarded Mid-South Conference Head Coach of the Year. Coach Daniel is in his third year at the helm of the Pats and is the first coach since Donnie Butcher in 2011 to earn this award.
Three Patriots also earned MSC First-Team All-Conference honors on Friday. Brown was the Pat on the list followed by
J.J. Ramey and
Anthony Johnson.
Jonathan Brown is UC's leading scorer on the season, averaging 14.4 ppg, 3.3 reb, and 3 ast. He scored a season-high 25 points against #5 Freed Hardeman and finished with double-digits in 19 games this year. This marks Brown's first MSC All-Conference honors.
Ramey secured a spot on the First-Team after a breakout senior season. The London, KY native averaged 15.5 points per game in MSC play to lead Cumberlands offensive attack. Ramey also attacked the boards, grabbing 4.6 reb in conference games. He was among the MSC leaders in three-point shooting, averaging 50.9% from behind the arc. This marks Ramey's first All-Conference honors of his career.
Johnson rounds out the Pats mentioned on the All-Conference First-Team. He added 13 pts, 4.1 reb, 1.7 stl, and 1.6 ast per game and was one of the most talented one-on-one scorers in the conference. The Midfield, AL native scored double figures 14 times this year, all coming off the bench. He also earns these honors for the first time in his first year at UC.
Cumberlands tied with Georgetown with the most players mentioned on the MSC First-Team.
The Patriots will start postseason play on Saturday at 5 PM CT / 6 PM ET in Bowling Green, KY at the MSC Tournament. They faceoff against the seventh seed Cumberland Phoenix in the quarterfinals and are looking to win their first MSC Tournament Championship since 2012.
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