Tuesday, March 16, 2010

MACON, Ga. - Six Atlantic Sun student-athletes were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All‐District teams for 2010, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student‐athletes.

Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Adnan Hodzic, a junior forward for Lipscomb, headlines the group of six and joins fellow A-Sun student-athletes Mercer's James Florence and Jacksonville's Ben Smith on the District 3 First-Team. Mercer's Daniel Emerson, Campbell's Jonathan Rodriguez and Lipscomb's Josh Slater earned second-team honors.

Slater joined 2009 Player of the Year Alex Renfroe, of Belmont, as the only two players in the league in the last 10 years to average 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. Hodzic has topped double digits in 57 straight games, the longest active streak in the nation.

Smith and Rodriguez both helped their respective teams to shares of the regular-season crown and both earned their third First Team accolades of their careers. Smith became the Dolphins' career leader in steals and assists while Rodriguez established school records for scoring and rebounding. The senior forward became just the conference's second 2,000-point, 1,000 rebound performer and set league records for free throws made and attempted.

Like Rodriguez, Florence broke his school's scoring record, topping the mark set by Sam Mitchell in the 1980's. The senior guard moved up to the second spot on the A-Sun's all-time list. Emerson averaged a stellar 15.4 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, leading the Bears to the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. Even after suffering a serious eye injury in the second-to-last regular season game, Emerson game back strong in the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championship to earn all-tournament accolades by averaging 16.7 points and 12.3 rebounds in Mercer's three contests.

The second-team all-district honor was not the only honor Emerson earned on Tuesday. The Atlanta Tipoff Club named the senior forward the men's college basketball "Player of the Year" for Georgia for the 2009-10 season.

Emerson, along with other Atlanta Tipoff Club award winners, will be honored on Tuesday, Mar. 23, at the Naismith Awards Banquet at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta.

Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, these student‐athletes represent the finest basketball players across America. The 240 student‐athletes, from 24 districts, are eligible for the State Farm Division I All‐America teams, to be announced on Saturday, April 3, at 11 a.m. (EDT) at Bracket Town™ in the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind., during the NABC Convention and NCAA® Final Four®.