NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - Heading into the 2018 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament, the conference office has announced the Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams and a pair of Wilmington University student-athletes have been honored by the league's 14 head coaches.
Redshirt sophomore Jermaine Head has become the program's first ever CACC Rookie of the Year while also earning Second Team All-CACC accolades. Senior Nick Richards earns his second All-Conference honor of his career, this time being named First Team All-CACC.
Richards (New Castle, Del./Hodgson Vo-Tech) heads into the CACC Tournament First Round game as the CACC leading scorer, pouring in 20.8 points per game while shooting at a 52.3 percent from the field. The senior is also 13th in the league in grabbing 6.2 rebounds per game, 15th in the league with 83 assists, and eighth in the league with 47 steals. He is also first in the league in scoring 21.2 points per game in CACC contests only.
Richards has scored in double figures in all but one of his games this year, while scoring 20 or more points in 14 games. He scored a season high 32 points on 13-of-20 shooting against Felician while also scoring 31 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 12-of-15 from the foul line against Post. Richards has four double-doubles on the year, grabbing a season's best 15 rebounds in the season opener against NYIT.He also dished out a season high nine assists against LIU Post and picked off five steals at Nyack.
Head (Edgewood, Md./Joppatowne) leads all rookies and is fourth in the CACC in scoring 18.4 points per game. The point guard does it all for the Wildcats, as he also grabs 5.3 rebounds, dishes out 4.7 assists, and gets 2.2 steals per game. He is second in the league with 132 assists, setting a new Wilmington single season program record. A total of 98 assists have come against CACC opponents, topping all other players in the conference. He is also second in the league with 61 total steals on the year.
The redshirt sophomore has scored 23 or more points in the final five games of the regular season, finishing the year with 12 games with 20 or more points. The led the team to a big second half comeback victory at Millersville with a season high 32 points, shooting 13-of-24 from the floor. He's hit six three-pointers twice this year, first going 6-for-9 from deep at Chestnut Hill, then 6-for-10 from long distance at Georgian Court. Head had a season high 12 assists against Concordia, and has been close to a triple-double on numerous occasions.
Goldey-Beacom's Corey Taite has been voted as the CACC Player of the Year while USciences' Flo Da-Silva takes home the CACC Defensive Player of the Year award. Bloomfield's Gerald Holmes was voted as the CACC Coach of the Year by the league's sports information directors and Nyack earned the CACC Team Sportsmanship Award.
The Wildcats begin their 2018 postseason with a CACC Tournament First Round game at Dominican Tuesday night. The Wildcats earned the South Division's number three seed with an 11-8 conference record, going 16-12 overall.
AGATE:
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM:
Nick Davidson (Bloomfield College)
Daniel Grant (Dominican College)
Nick Richards (Wilmington University)
Terrell Spaulding (Felician University)
Corey Taite (Goldey-Beacom College)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM:
Flo Da-Silva (University of the Sciences)
Tyler Desrosiers (Post University)
Jermaine Head (Wilmington University)
Kaison Randolph (Jefferson)
Keith Washington (Bloomfield College)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM:
Safee Abdus-Sabur (Bloomfield College)
Derek Dorn (Caldwell University)
Alexander Gorton (Jefferson)
Will Gregorits (University of the Sciences)
Dante Thompson (Goldey-Beacom College)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Corey Taite (Goldey-Beacom College)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
Jermaine Head (Wilmington University)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Flo Da-Silva (University of the Sciences)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH OF THE YEAR:
Gerald Holmes (Bloomfield College)
2017-18 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD:
Nyack College