Guilford’s Tyler Sanborn named ODAC Player of the Year

SALEM, Va. (2/25/09) — Guilford College’s Tyler Sanborn (Mount Airy,N.C./Elkin) earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Men’s Basketball Player of the Year Award Thursday night at the league’s annual banquet in the Salem Civic Center. The senior joins former teammate Ben Strong ’08 as Guilford winners of the league’s top prize, named for former Randolph-Macon College standout Kurt Axe.

Guilford’s Clay Henson (Glen Alpine, N.C./Freedom) joined Sanborn on the First Team All-ODAC squad and teammate Rhett Bonner (Yadkinville, N.C./North Forsyth (Presbyterian)) garnered second-team recognition. Eastern Mennonite University’s Kirby Dean won the Bob Johnson Coach of the Year Award and Hampden-Sydney College’s Harrison George captured Rookie of the Year honors. The league’s 11 head coaches nominated and selected the award winners.

Washington and Lee University’s Ben Goetsch was named the league’s Farm Bureau Insurance Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete as chosen by conference sports information directors.

A three-time ODAC Player of the Week and three-time Scoutware D3hoops.com Team of the Week honoree, Sanborn averages 20.2 points per game, which ranks third in the league. The 6-9, 260-pound center leads the ODAC and ranks fourth nationally with 13.6 rebounds per contest. He stands seventh in Division III with an ODAC-best .650 field-goal percentage. Sanborn has a league-high 22 double-doubles and 15 games of 20 or more points. He hit for a career-high 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in Guilford’s Jan. 27 win at Roanoke College. A 2009 D3hoops.com Fourth Team All-America and First Team All-ODAC pick, Sanborn recently became Guilford’s sixth men’s basketball player to compile 1,000 points and rebounds in his career. He stands 18th among the Quakers’ career scoring leaders with 1,249 points and fifth in career rebounds with 1,008.

Henson captured his second straight First Team All-ODAC honor after averaging 18.0 points and a league-best 3.04 three-pointers per game. The 6-2, 170-pound senior guard ranks fourth among ODAC leaders in scoring, second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.73) and seventh in assists (3.12). Henson has scored in double figures 23 times, including 30-point games versus Roanoke (Jan. 18) and Lynchburg College (Feb. 13). He made eight-of-12 three-pointers in both contests, one shy of his school record for trifectas in a game. Guilford’s 10th all-time leading scorer, Henson has 1,578 points thanks to his school-record 265 three-point goals. The 2009 first team All-South pick stands sixth among Guilford’s career assists leaders (304) and seventh in steals (114).

Also a 2009 Second Team All-ODAC selection, Bonner ranks third on the team and 14th in the league with 14.5 points per game. The 6-1, 175-pound senior guard stands second in the league with a .897 free-throw percentage that ranks ninth nationally. He also carries the ODAC’s second-best three-point percentage (.442) and stands 11th in the league with 2.92 assists per outing. Bonner has 19 double-figure scoring contests, including a season-best 28-point showing at Hampden-Sydney Dec. 9 that included five rebounds and six assists. Bonner became the 30th member of Guilford’s 1,000 career points club in the Quakers’ regular-season finale and ranks fourth in school history with 149 career three-pointers.

Coach Tom Palombo’s club posted the best regular-season record in school history (23-2) and earned the number-two seed in this weekend’s ODAC Tournament with a 12-2 league mark. The Quakers earned their first number-one ranking in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll earlier this year and stand fourth in this week’s poll. Guilford opens ODAC Tournament play Friday (2/26) with 6:00 p.m. quarterfinal contest against Lynchburg. The tournament concludes Sunday (2/28) and all games are played in the Salem Civic Center.

Dave Walters
Guilford College Athletics