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Green Repeats as Mid-Con Player of the Year;
Owens Earns Top Defensive Honors
Mid-Con Media Relations 02/28/2006
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ELMHURST, ILL. - Oral Roberts and IUPUI, which shared the regular-season title, were rewarded for a solid regular-season with a combined four of the Mid-Continent Conference's five major men's basketball awards. ORU's Caleb Green repeated as Mid-Con Player of the Year, while teammate Larry Owens was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year. IUPUI's Maushae Byles garnered Sixth Man of the Year accolades and Ron Hunter was selected as the Coach of the Year. The final major award winner for the 2006 campaign is Oakland's Calvin Wooten, who was tabbed as the Newcomer of the Year. Valparaiso landed the most players on the all-conference teams with three selections, while six teams each had two all-star choices.
Green takes home the Player of the Year award for the second-straight year after helping Oral Roberts to a share of its second-straight regular-season title. The junior forward is just the fourth player in conference history to win the top award twice in his career and the first since Valparaiso's Bryce Drew accomplished the feat in 1996-97 and 1997-98. Green leads the Mid-Con in scoring (21.2) and rebounding (8.8) and ranks in the Top 10 in the league in field goal percentage (52.9) and free throw percentage (75.6). In conference action, the four-time Player of the Week accounted for 21.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per outing, both of which are second among league leaders.
Wooten becomes just the second Oakland player to garner Newcomer of the Year honors, joining Rawle Marshall (2002-03). Wooten has reached double figures in 25 of his 27 games in an Oakland uniform and is tied for fourth in the Mid-Con in overall scoring at a 19.9 clip. The junior guard, who was the Nov. 21 Player of the Week, also accounted for 1.8 steals per game, which places him third on the conference charts.
Owens is tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Year after finishing in the Top 10 in the conference in the major defensive categories. The junior guard/forward's 7.9 caroms per game rank third in the Mid-Con, while his 1.4 blocks per outing are second among league leaders. Owens also makes the averages 1.5 steals per game, which is seventh in the Mid-Con.
Byles was an effective member off the IUPUI bench in conference play, which led to his selection as the Sixth Man of the Year. The senior forward is the first Jaguar to win sixth man accolades in the four-year history of the award. Byles accounted for 8.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13 appearances against conference foes.
Hunter is honored as the Coach of the Year for the second time in his career (2002-03) after leading IUPUI to a share of its first-ever Mid-Con regular-season crown. The Jaguars finished the year with a school-record 13 victories and posted a nine-game winning streak from Jan. 19 to Feb. 16.
Oral Roberts and IUPUI each landed a league-best two recipients on the All-Conference first team, led by ORU's Green and Owens. The Jaguars representatives are sophomore guard George Hill (18.9 pts., 3.6 assts.) and senior forward Brandon Cole (15.4 pts., 7.2 rebs.). UMKC junior guard Quinton Day (20.8 pts., 2.9 stls.) and Valparaiso senior forward Dan Oppland (19.9 pts., 8.1 rebs.) round out the first team selections. Green and Oppland are repeat first team all-stars.
The All-Conference second team honorees include: Wooten, Chicago State junior guard Royce Parran (18.1 pts., 4.0 assts.), CSU sophomore guard David Holston (13.3 pts., 1.9 stls.), Southern Utah junior guard Henry Uhegwu (13.4 pts., 75.7 FT %) and Valparaiso senior guard Ron Howard (13.6 pts., 3.5 assts.). Howard is the lone repeat all-conference performer after a second team appearance in 2005.
The Mid-Con Honorable Mention team members are UMKC junior forward Dee Ayuba (13.9 pts., 6.7 rebs.), Oakland junior forward Vova Severovas (15.2 pts., 6.7 rebs.), Southern Utah junior guard Steve Barnes (4.9 assts., 50.0 3FG%), Valparaiso senior center Mohamed Kone (10.5 pts., 2.0 blks.) and Western Illinois senior forward Fred Oguns (13.2 pts., 5.0 rebs.).
All five members of the All-Newcomer team earned All-Conference accolades as Ayuba, Holston, Kone, Uhegwu and Wooten garnered newcomer accolades.
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