University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Place A League-High Three Players on All-Sun Belt Team
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Cajuns
Place A League-High Three Players on All-Sun Belt Team
Thursday, March 4, 2004
Seems
fitting for a team that consisted of no real superstars,
rather a collective unit that worked together to bring
home the program's first outright regular season
conference championship in 22 years and the No. 1 seed
for the upcoming Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference
Tournament.
Seniors Laurie Bridges and Antoine Landry along with junior transfer Brian Hamilton were all named to the league's all-conference team as voted on by coaches and selected media.
The selections marked the second straight season that head coach Jessie Evans' squad had three all-conference performers. Since joining the league in 1991-92, Louisiana-Lafayette has collected 22 All-Sun Belt picks in 13 seasons.
Bridges
earned second team honors while Hamilton and Landry were
third team members. For all three, it was their first
time being named to the All-Sun Belt team.
Considered the hardest worker and most consistent on the team, Bridges (right) has done just about everything for the Cajuns this season. He currently is averaging 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and has 79 assists and 36 steals.
He has started all 25 games for the Cajuns and has a streak of 46 consecutive starts dating back to last season
The senior guard pulled down 13
rebounds in the regular season finale vs. UALR for his
third double-digit rebounding game of the season.
Bridges has scored in double-figures in six of the last
10 games.
Landry, currently the team's leading scorer at 13.4 points per game in his first season as a regular starter, is having a career-year for the Cajuns.
His 66 three-point field goals made are a new personal single-season best, he is tops on the team with 115 total field goals made and ranks 26th in the nation for three-point field goal percentage at 43 percent.
Landry (left) has scored 20-plus points six times including a career-high 27 points in the Cajuns win at Western Kentucky on Thursday, Jan. 29. He scored 19 points at Dayton, 22 at Xavier and 20 at then-No. 4 Arizona, earlier in the season.
The 5-foot-11 guard from New Orleans has led the Cajuns in scoring in each of the last two games.
Hamilton
(right), a transfer from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, is
the team's leading rebounder and ranks sixth in the Sun
Belt with 7.0 rebounds per game. He has pulled his
weight on both ends of the floor with 74 offensive
rebounds and 102 defensive rebounds
Hamilton ranks third in the league for offensive boards and ninth for defensive and has four double-doubles to his credit. He has had at least seven rebounds in 15 games and has reached double-digits five times.
The Missouri City, Texas, native shot above 50 percent 20 times during the season's 25 game slate and ranks third in the Sun Belt for field goal percentage shooting 61 percent.
All-Sun Belt first-team members include Western Kentucky's Mike Wells and Nigel Dixon, New Mexico State's James Moore, Middle Tennessee's Tommy Gunn and Arkansas State's J.J. Montgomery.
Second-team selections include UL Lafayette's Laurie Bridges, MT's Mike Dean, North Texas' Leonard Hopkins, ASU's Dewarick Spencer and Denver's Erik Benzel.
Third-team picks were Bo McCalebb of UNO, UALR's Brandon Freeman, UL Lafayette's Brian Hamilton and Antoine Landry, and North Texas' Shawnson Johnson.
Wells was named the league's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. McCalebb was tabbed Freshman of the Year and Dixon earned Newcomer of the Year status. UALR head coach Steve Shields was honored as Coach of the Year.
The teams will be presented during halftime ceremonies in Saturday's quarterfinal games.
2003-04 ALL-SUN BELT MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Nigel Dixon Sr. C Western Kentucky
Tommy Gunn Sr G Middle Tennessee
J.J. Montgomery Jr. G Arkansas State
James Moore Sr. F New Mexico State
Mike Wells Sr. G Western Kentucky
SECOND TEAM
Erik Benzel Sr. G Denver
Laurie Bridges Sr. G Louisiana-Lafayette
Mike Dean Jr. G Middle Tennessee
Leonard Hopkins Jr. G North Texas
Dewarick Spencer Jr. G Arkansas State
THIRD TEAM
Brandon Freeman Jr. G
Arkansas-Little Rock
Brian Hamilton Jr. F Louisiana-Lafayette
Shawnson Johnson Sr. F North Texas
Antoine Landry Sr. G Louisiana-Lafayette
Bo McCalebb Fr. G New Orleans
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Mike
Wells, WKU
DEF. PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Mike Wells, WKU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Bo McCalebb, UNO
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Nigel Dixon, WKU
COACH OF THE YEAR: Steve Shields, UALR
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
