WSU’s Love takes Horizon’s top honor
Nagy named league’s coach of year, as host of Raiders earn plaudits.
Wright State men’s coach Scott Nagy wasn’t sure last week whether Loudon Love would win the Horizon League Player of the Year award — even though he thought the junior center was deserving.
Nagy said: “He SHOULD win it, but you never know. People might vote for bigger scorers.”
Those concerns were alleviated when the league announced Monday that Love had earned the top honor in a vote of coaches, media and sports information directors. He’s only the second Raider to claim the award,joining 2006-07 winner DaShaun Wood.
Love averages 16.3 points and 9.7 rebounds — 17.8 and 10.2 in league games — and was named first-team all-league for the second straight season.
Nagy won his third consecutive coach of the year award, sharing it this season with Cleveland
State’s Dennis Gates.
The Raiders, who are off until the conference semifinals Monday, set program records in their 33-year Division-I era for regular-season wins (25) and league victories (15).
Senior wing Bill Wampler, averaging 15.6 points, made second-team all-league for the second year in a row, while senior point guard Cole Gentry, averaging 11.0, earned third-team honors.
Tanner Holden, averaging 12.1 points (third on the team) and 6.5 rebounds (second), and Grant Basile (6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game) made the all-freshman team.
Wayne grad Darius Quisenberry, a sophomore for Youngstown State, was named to the first team along with Green Bay’s JayQuan McCloud, Oakland’s Xavier Hill-Mais and Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis.
Green Bay’s Amari Davis, a Trotwood-Madison grad, was named freshman of the year.
The Raider women had five players earn league honors, led by first-teamer Angel Baker. The sophomore guard averages 17 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
Senior guard Michal Miller, who averages 12.8 points, was a second-team pick. Shamarre Hale was named freshman of the year, while Jada Roberson made the all-freshman team. And junior center Tyler Frierson was an all-defensive team pick.
Hale averages 8.1 points and 7.6 rebounds and Roberson 6.7 points and 3.4, while Frierson was first on the team and second in the league with 39 blocks.
The Raiders finished 18-11 overall and tied for second at 13-5 in the league. They just missed a top-two seed in the conference tourney and a double bye, which went to champion IUPUI and perennial power Green Bay, which also finished 13-5 but won the tiebreaker over Wright State because of its season split with the Jaguars.
The third-seeded Raiders host No. 10 UIC at 7 p.m.