Men’s Basketball: Long, Wright receive All-Sun Belt honors

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, March 10, 2015

 

UL big man Shawn Long was named to the first team and Ragin’ Cajuns point guard Jay Wright was named to the third team when All-Sun Belt Conference selections were announced Tuesday morning.

Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter was named Sun Belt Player of the Year for a second straight season, UL Monroe’s Keith Richard was named SBC Coach of the Year, Georgia Southern’s Jelani Hewitt is the conference Defensive Player of the Year and Troy’s Wesley Person is the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

Long is averaging 17.0 points and a Sun Belt-high 10.3 rebounds per game for the 19-12 Cajuns, who open play Friday night as the No. 4 at the SBC Tournament against the winner of Thursday night’s game between 5-seed Texas-Arlington and 8-seed Texas State.

Wright is averaging 9.4 points in his first season at the NCAA Division I level.

Long is a redshirt junior from Morgan City High who transferred to UL from Mississippi State, and Wright is a sophomore from Rincon, Georgia, who transferred in from Wyoming’s Casper College.

Joining Long, Hunter and Hewitt on the All-Sun Belt first team are Georgia State’s Ryan Harrow and UL Monroe’s Tylor Ongwae.

ALL-SUN BELT TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern, Sr., Guard)

Ryan Harrow (Georgia State, R-Sr., Guard)

R.J. Hunter (Georgia State, Jr., Guard)

Shawn Long (UL, Jr., Forward)

Tylor Ongwae (UL Monroe, Sr., Forward)

SECOND TEAM

Frank Eaves (Appalachian State, Jr., Guard)

Anthony Livingston (Arkansas State, So., Forward)

Ken Williams (South Alabama, So., Guard)

Lonnie McClanahan (UT Arlington, Sr., Guard)

Emani Gant (Texas State, Jr., Forward)

THIRD TEAM

Josh Hagins (UALR, Jr., Guard)

Trent Wiedeman (Georgia Southern, Sr., Center)

Jay Wright (UL, So., Guard)

Majok Deng (UL Monroe, Jr., Forward)

Wesley Person (Troy, Fr., Guard)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

R.J. Hunter (Georgia State, Jr., Guard)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern, Sr., Guard)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Wesley Person (Troy, Fr., Guard)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Keith Richard (UL Monroe)