High Point’s Brown Named Big South Player of the Year, Cherry Named Coach of the Year

HIGH POINT, N.C. — High Point University’s John Brown was named Big South Player of the Year and Scott Cherry was named Big South Coach of the Year, the conference announced on Monday. Brown led High Point in scoring (19.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) as High Point won its first outright Big South regular-season title.

Junior Devante Wallace was named All-Conference honorable mention and sophomore Haiishen McIntyre was named to the Big South All-Academic team.

High Point won 12 of its final 14 games of the regular season to finish 16-13 overall and 12-4 in Big South play. After starting league play 0-2 and losing to Radford on Jan. 10, the Panthers stood at 4-11 overall. HPU went 12-2 the rest of the way and became the first team ever to start league play 0-2 and win the Big South regular season.

With the outright title this season, HPU earned the league’s automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament if the team doesn’t win the Big South Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. It was the second year in a row HPU went 12-4 in conference play. HPU won the North Division and shared the overall title with Charleston Southern last year.

Brown, of Jacksonville, Fla., led High Point on its historic run. He led HPU with 21.1 points, 8.0 rebounds 1.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game over the final 14 games of the season. He shot a team-best 57.9 percent from the floor and ranked second on the team with 2.5 assists per game over that span. Brown is High Point’s third Big South Player of the Year following Danny Gathings (2003-04) and Arizona Reid (2006-07 and 2007-08).

Overall on the season, Brown averaged 19.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.6 steals in 29 games. He shot 54.5 percent from the floor and 74.0 percent from the free-throw line. Brown was named Big South Player of the Week three times.

With 1,027 points in his two seasons, Brown became the first player in Big South history to score over 1,000 points before the end of his sophomore year. He was named Big South Freshman of the Year last season, when he averaged 16.4 points and 6.1 rebounds. Brown received 22 of 26 first-place votes for Player of the Year.

Wallace, of Baltimore, Md., averaged 12.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in 29 games. In Big South play, he averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and led the league in three-point shooting at 59.3 percent. He led all guards with blocks per game (0.9) in league play. Wallace hit at least three three-pointers in 12 games and over five treys three times.

Cherry, of Ballston Spa, N.Y., is High Point’s first-ever Big South Coach of the Year. He is in his fifth season as HPU’s head coach and has led the team to its first two Big South titles, the North Division last year and the North Division and overall regular season this year. High Point’s 12 league wins last season were a program record and the team matched that total this year. He received 12 of 21 first-place votes for Coach of the Year.

Cherry has a 73-79 overall record and 49-37 Big South record in five seasons, including a 33-27 overall record and 24-8 league record in the last two seasons. High Point made its first NCAA Div. I postseason appearance last season when the Panthers went to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

McIntyre was named to the Big South All-Academic team for the first time. A Millis Scholar-Athlete, McIntyre averaged 3.7 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 15 Big South games.

High Point enters the Big South Tournament on Friday, playing either Liberty or Winthrop in the quarterfinals at noon. The tournament is at Coastal Carolina’s HTC Center in Conway, S.C.

2013-14 ALL-CONFERENCE & AWARDS

Player of the Year
John Brown, F, R-Soph., High Point

Freshman of the Year
Andrew Rowsey, G, UNC Asheville

Defensive Player of the Year
D.J. Covington, C, Sr., VMI

Coach of the Year
Scott Cherry, High Point

Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Mike Byron, C, Sr., Gardner-Webb

First-Team All-Conference
John Brown, F, R-Soph., High Point
D.J. Covington, C, Sr., VMI
Javonte Green, F, Jr., Radford
Rodney Glasgow, G, Sr., VMI
Andrew Rowsey, G, Fr., UNC Asheville

Second-Team All-Conference
Warren Gillis, F, Jr., Coastal Carolina
Jerome Hill, F, Soph., Gardner-Webb
QJ Peterson, G, Fr., VMI
Jaron Lane, F, R-Sr., UNC Asheville
D.J. Cunningham, C, R-Sr., UNC Asheville

Honorable Mention All-Conference
Elijah Wilson, G, Fr., Coastal Carolina
Tristan Carey, G, Sr., Longwood
Jordan Downing, G, R-Jr., Presbyterian College
Devante Wallace, G, Jr., High Point
Keon Moore, G/F, R-Jr., Winthrop

All-Freshman Team
Andrew Rowsey, G, UNC Asheville
QJ Peterson, G, VMI
Elijah Wilson, G, Coastal Carolina
Keon Johnson, G, Winthrop
Tyrell Nelson, F, Gardner-Webb

All-Academic Team
Paul Gombwer, F, Jr., Charleston Southern
Michel Enanga, F, Soph,, Coastal Carolina
Mike Byron, C, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Haiishen McIntyre, G, Soph., High Point
John Caleb Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Jeylani Dublin, F, R-Jr., Longwood
Kyle Noreen, G/F, Jr., Radford
James Bourne, F, Jr., Winthrop