Guilford’s Sanborn and Palumbo named nation’s best

GUILFORD’S TYLER SANBORN NAMED BASKETBALL TIMES DIVISION III CO-PLAYER OF
THE YEAR;

Tom Palombo shares Division III Coach of the Year Award

**Greensboro, N.C. – **The Basketball Times* named Guilford College’s *Tyler
Sanborn (Mount Airy, N.C./Elkin)* a co-winner of the Division III Player of
the Year award in its April edition. He shared the prize with Williams
College senior Blake Schultz and joined him on the First Team All-America
squad. Guilford’s coach *Tom Palombo* shared the publication’s Division III
Coach of the Year Award with Williams mentor Mike Maker. The Quakers’* Clay
Henson (Glen Alpine, N.C./Freedom)* earned Second Team All-America honors.

The announcement marks *Sanborn’s* third national player of the year award,
as he won the *DIII News *Player of the Year and the National Association of
Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCAA Division III Player of the Year honors last
month. The 6-10 senior center had 30 double-doubles and averaged 19.8
points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 33 games. He ranked 44th among
Division III leaders in scoring, third in rebounding, ninth in field-goal
percentage (.643) and 38th in blocks per game. *Sanborn *won the Old
Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Kurt Axe Player of the Year Award in
February and was named to his second North Carolina Collegiate Sports
Information Association (NCCSIA) College Division All-State Team earlier
this week. His 655 points rank eighth in school history and his field-goal
percentage stands third all-time. He earned All-NCAA Tournament honors and
averaged 21.8 points and a tourney-best 16.6 rebounds over five games. *Sanborn
*hit for a career-high 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in Guilford’s Jan.
27 win at Roanoke College, one of his 18 contests with at least 20 points.
He grabbed a career-high 23 boards and scored a team-best 21 points in the
Quakers’ NCAA sectional-round win over the College of Wooster.

A two-time D3hoops.com All-American and First Team All-ODAC pick, *Sanborn *is
Guilford’s sixth men’s basketball player to compile 1,000 points and
rebounds in his career. He stands 16th among the Quakers’ career scoring
leaders (1,398), fourth in rebounds (1,133) and third in blocks (200). *Sanborn
*averaged 4.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game his first two seasons as the*
*backup to two-time All-American *Ben Strong* *’08*.

*Henson* averaged 17.8 points per game and set school records for
three-pointers (98) and three-point attempts (267) in a season. Also a 2010
*DIII News *Third Team All-American, the 6-2 senior guard garnered NABC
First Team All-South Region and NCCSIA College Division All-state honors for
the second straight season. He earned Third Team All-South honors from
D3hoops.com and his second straight First Team All-ODAC honor this
year.

*Henson *ranked 93rd in the nation in scoring, 16th in three-pointers per game (3.0)
and 54th in three-point field goal percentage (.367). He averaged a
team-high 3.12 assists per game, along with 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per
outing. *Henson *scored in double figures in all but three games over his
last two campaigns, including 14 20-point outings this year.* *He netted a
season-high 30 points in wins over Roanoke (Jan. 18) and Lynchburg College
(Feb. 13) and made eight three-pointers in both contests, one shy of his
school record.*

*A three-year starter, *Henson *concluded his career with 1,717 career
points, which ranks ninth in school history, and holds the Guilford
standards for career three-pointers made (287) and attempted (774). His 123
career games rank second in school history and he stands fifth among the
Quakers’ career leaders in assists (329) and steals (121).

The pair helped *Palombo’s* Quakers to a 30-3 overall record and their
second straight third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament. Guilford’s 97-88
NCAA tourney semifinal loss to Williams Mar. 19 snapped an 11-game winning
streak, which included the club’s second ODAC Tournament crown in three
years. The Quakers posted the best regular-season mark (23-2) in the
program’s distinguished history and ended the campaign ranked third in the
final D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll. Guilford enjoyed a 15-game winning streak
this season and two weeks as the top team in the D3hoops.com poll.
Guilford’s record of 104-19 gives the Quakers the highest four-year winning
percentage (.846) among four-year college men’s basketball teams in the
state of North Carolina (all divisions). A three-time Bob Johnson ODAC Coach
of the Year and 2007 NABC South Region Coach of the Year, *Palombo *is
247-119 in 13 seasons as a men’s basketball coach, 147-56 in seven years at
Guilford.

Dave Walters
Guilford College Athletics