Winthrop’s Johnson and Gavin named first team All-Big South
Winthrop’s Keon Johnson and Jimmy Gavin were named first team All-Big South on Tuesday, while fellow men’s basketball standout Xavier Cooks made the second team.
Johnson is second in the league in scoring heading into the conference tournament that begins Thursday at Campbell. The junior guard averages 19.8 points per game and has shot the ball extremely well this year, hitting nearly 42 percent of his 3-point attempts, 83 percent of his foul shots and 48 percent of his total shots from the floor. Johnson has scored in double figures every game this season.
Gavin, a graduate student transfer from Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, is the second explosive scorer in Winthrop’s back court. Gavin finished the regular season averaging 18 points per contest, while hitting 43 percent of his 3-pointers. He’s also making 83 percent of his free throws and has scored 20 or more points in a game 12 times this season.
Gavin and Johnson’s first team inclusion gives Winthrop its first first team pair since 2006-07 when Michael Jenkins and Craig Bradshaw were both picked first team all-conference.
And Cooks continues to progress into one of the Big South’s most versatile players. He averaged 14.5 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game in the regular season. Cooks’ 3-point shooting really took off this year; he hit 39 percent for the regular season, a figure that rose to 45 percent in conference play. He also converted 75 percent of his free throws.
John Brown may or may not be able to play in this weekend’s Big South Conference tournament because of an unclear foot injury. If he isn’t able to go, at least the High Point redshirt senior finished his illustrious career with some hardware. Brown was selected player of the year and defensive player of the year after averaging 19.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-7 Brown impacted games at both ends of the court; he led the league in field goal percentage, was third in blocked shots and fifth in steals.
Brown got 21 first place votes from the media, coaches and school officials that voted, while Winthrop’s Johnson got six to finish in second. Brown is the first player in Big South history to win player of the year and defensive player of the year in the same season.
Longwood’s Lotanna Nwogbo became the Lancers’ first Big South all-conference first team selection since joining the league in 2012-13.
And Ritchie McKay took the league’s coach of the year honors after guiding Liberty to a 10-8 conference record. The Flames were picked to finish last - by a considerable distance - in the league’s preseason polling, following a 2-16 Big South campaign in 2014-15 that cost former coach Dale Layer his job.
Big South All-Conference
Player of the year: John Brown, High Point
Defensive player of the year: John Brown, High Point
Freshman of the year: Chris Clemons, Campbell
Coach of the year: Ritchie McKay, Liberty
First team
John Brown, R-Sr. F, High Point
Keon Johnson, Jr. G, Winthrop
DeSean Murray, Soph. F, Presbyterian
Jimmy Gavin, Gr. G, Winthrop
Lotanna Nwogbo, R-Sr. C, Longwood
Second team
Xavier Cooks, Soph. F, Winthrop
Rashun Davis, Sr. G, Radford
Adam Weary, Sr. G, High Point
Tyrell Nelson, Jr. F, Gardner-Webb
Chris Clemons, Fr. G, Campbell
Honorable mention
Shivaughn Wiggins, R-Jr. G, Coastal Carolina
John Dawson, R-Soph. G, Liberty
Cameron Jones, Sr. G, Radford
Elijah Wilson, Jr. G, Coastal Carolina
Dylan Smith, Fr. G, UNC Asheville
All-Freshman
Chris Clemons, G, Campbell
Dylan Smith, G, UNC Asheville
Dwayne Sutton, F/G, UNC Asheville
Armel Potter, G, Charleston Southern
Ed Polite Jr., F, Radford
This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Winthrop’s Johnson and Gavin named first team All-Big South."