The Seattle University men’s basketball team joined with athletics staff and supporters of the program to hand out the yearly awards and look towards the future at the annual end-of-season banquet Sunday evening in the lower level banquet room of The Space Needle.
Redshirt freshman Deshaun Sunderhaus (Conyers, Ga.) received the John Tresvant Rebounder of the Year award after leading the Redhawks in rebounding average during the 2012-13 season. Sunderhaus averaged 6.0 rebounds per game, including five games with double-digit rebounds, led by a 14-rebound effort against Jackson State Dec. 17. He also pulled down 11 rebounds at Stanford Nov. 28 and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with 23 points at Utah State Jan. 3.
Jarell Flora (Bremerton, Wash.) was named the team’s Most Improved Player after seeing his playing time increase, especially in the second half of the past season. He averaged 5.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, including a career-high 18-point effort against UT Arlington Feb. 16. In a 10-game stretch from Jan. 17 through Feb. 16, Flora averaged 9.6 points per game.
Senior T.J. Diop (Queensland, Australia) received the Academic Achiever of the Year award, not only for his own work in the classroom, where he has maintained a grade point average over 3.0. He was also recognized for helping his teammates and his classmates when they came to him looking for guidance.
The Carl Ervin Assists Award was given to senior Prince Obasi (Reseda, Calif.) after he led the team with 130 assists (4.3 assists per game) during the season, finishing second in the Western Athletic Conference in the category. Obasi dished out a career-high 11 assists in three games during the season: at Louisiana Tech (Jan. 19), against Texas State (Jan. 26), and at Texas State (Feb. 28).
Senior Allen Tate (Hobbs, N.M.) received the Coach’s Award for his contributions to the team both in practice and during games, as well as his improved effort in the classroom. Tate appeared in 24 games during the 2012-13 campaign, averaging 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, including a 14-point, five-rebound performance at Texas State Feb. 28.
Head coach Cameron Dollar capped the evening by recognizing the five seniors on the 2012-13 squad: Diop, Louis Green (Westchester, Ill.), Obasi, Chad Rasmussen (University Place, Wash.), and Tate. Each senior thanked their coaches and teammates, other support staff members, and their families.