Less than 24 hours after one of the most exciting games of the 2015-16 season, the Seattle University men’s basketball team joined their families, athletics staff members, and supporters at the Space Needle for the annual banquet Sunday night.
With one game remaining in the regular season as well as the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament, not only did play-by-play broadcaster Dave Grosby and head coach Cameron Dollar look back on the 2015-16 season, they also looked ahead to the potential of the team, especially when they travel to Las Vegas next week as the number three seed at the conference tournament.
One night after participating in Senior Night ceremonies at KeyArena, Jack Crook (Manchester, England) and Deshaun Sunderhaus (Conyers, Ga.) were honored by Dollar for their dedication to the Redhawk basketball program. While Sunderhaus has continued to support the team both in practice and during games even after a knee injury ended his collegiate career, Crook is averaging 10.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in his final year with the Redhawks.
Junior forward William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) received the Defensive Player of the Year and John Tresvant Rebounder of the Year awards. Powell has pulled down 6.7 rebounds per game, most on the team and sixth in the WAC, plus he has gained the reputation for taking charges at key moments during games and having the ability to play several positions within the Seattle U zone defense.
Brendan Westendorf (Auburn, Wash.) collected the Offensive Player of the Year and Carl Ervin Assists awards, as he is averaging 12.2 points and 4.3 assists per game, tops on the team in both categories. Westendorf has led the team in scoring 10 times and in assists 19 times so far this season and is coming off a 21-point performance that included buzzer-beating three-pointers both at the end of the first half and at the end of the game.
Emmanuel Chibuogwu (Seattle, Wash.) shared the Most Improved Player award with Manroop Clair (Vancouver, B.C.) after earning a spot in the starting lineup before the start of the conference season and increasing his time on the court from 12.6 minutes to 20.3 minutes per game. Meanwhile, Clair has become one of the team’s top three-point shooters, leading the Redhawks with 64 made three-pointers this season after hitting just 12 three-pointers last season.
Chibuogwu also shared the Academic Achiever Award with Jadon Cohee (Langley, B.C.), as both players have shown significant progress in the classroom.
Seattle University (13-14, 7-6 WAC) concludes the regular season at CSU Bakersfield Saturday, March 5, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 770 AM KTTH as well as streamed on the WAC Digital Network (www.wacsports.com/live).