Menefee Locks Up NAIA First Team All-American and CCC POTY Honors

March 18, 2009

POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II's number two scorer, Nathan Menefee, was honored with a First Team All-American award.

Menefee, who was named to the Third Team last season, crushed a number of school records this season including his incredible 48 point total in game one of the National Tourney.

Besides Menefee, OIT's Jguwon Hogges also earned inclusion on the first team representing CCC players.

William Walker (Bethel, Ind.), a 6-6 senior from Michigan City, Mich. earned Player-of-the-Year honors. Walker averaged 20 points and 8.8 rebounds per game for the Pilots and led them to a 33-4 record and a trip to the Final Four. He also was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) player-of-the-year back on Sunday evening (March 16).

Cascade Conference players Warner Pacific's Adam Moore was a second-team selection, and Craig McGee (College of Idaho), Kris Groce (Eastern Oregon) and Justin Parnell (OIT) were honorable mention choices.

In the Cascade Conference, Menefee met the predicted honor of Conference Player of the Year as voted on by the leagues coaches and athletic directors.

Menefee, a 5-11 junior guard from Tacoma, averaged 24.4 points during the regular season, helping the Geoducks to a fourth-place CCC finish and a berth in the CCC Tournament. Menefee set a single-season school record with eight games of 30 points or more during the regular season.

He was joined on the all-league squad by teammate Nick Moore, last year's CCC Newcomer of the Year.

Evergreen earned one of the CCC's two automatic bids to the national tournament March 11-17 in Branson, Mo.

"Nate has been a vital part of our success this season," said Evergreen coach Jeff Drinkwine. "Being named the pre-season CCC Player of the Year in October only contributed to Nate's hard work and ability to lead... and his competitive spirit has inspired all of us during course of the season. Nate is a gifted and talented person, and it has been an honor to have the opportunity to coach him."

Full CCC story