SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Donald Sims was named the Southern Conference Malcolm U. Pitt Player of the Year, as voted by the league's media, the SoCon announced on Thursday. The junior guard also earned first team all-SoCon honors in addition to coaches' team all-league honors after leading Appalachian State University men's basketball to a 20-11 regular season record and the North division title with a 13-5 league mark.
The league's leading scorer at 20.4 points per game, Sims scored in double figures in 30 of the Mountaineers' 31 games in the regular season. Heading into this weekend's tournament, he is the national leader in free throw percentage (95.0) and three-pointers made (102).
The junior became the first Mountaineer to win SoCon Player of the Week honors three times in a season and joins Charles Payton (1981) and Tyson Patterson (2000) as the third student-athlete in program history to win player of the year honors.
He is also just the third player in school history to score 600 points in a season and currently ranks second on ASU's single season list with 631 on the season. He is just one three-pointer shy of Appalachian's single-season record and 11 away from the career record.
Sims' top performance of the season came at Davidson on January 9, when the guard set a Belk Arena record with 44 points on 13-of-19 shooting and a 13-of-13 mark at the charity stripe. Also in 2009-10, he became the 29th player in program history to score 1,000 points and finished the regular season ranked 13th with 1410 points through three seasons.
The Gaffney, S.C. native is joined on the all-league first team by College of Charleston's Andrew Goudelock, The Citadel's Cameron Wells, UNC Greensboro's Ben Stywall and Wofford's Noah Dahlman, who was honored by the league's coaches as player of the year on Wednesday.
WC's Mike Young was named the Coach of the Year after leading the Terriers to the South division title and Davidson's Jake Cohen earned top freshman honors.
The Mountaineers open SoCon Tournament play on Saturday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Friday's The Citadel-Samford matchup on Friday.
All-Conference
First Team
Donald Sims, Appalachian State
Andrew Goudelock, College of Charleston
Cameron Wells, The Citadel
Ben Stywall, UNC Greensboro
Noah Dahlman, Wofford
All-Conference
Second Team
Jeremy Simmons, College of Charleston
Adam Constantine, Elon
Amu Saaka, Furman
Ty Patterson, Chattanooga
Brandon Giles, Western
Carolina
All-Conference
Third Team
Donavan Monroe, College of Charleston
Willie Powers, Georgia Southern
Jake Robinson, Western
Carolina
Brigham Waginger, Western
Carolina
Jamar Diggs, Wofford
Tim Johnson, Wofford
All-Freshman
Team
Willis
Hall, College of Charleston
Harrison
DuPont, The Citadel
Jake
Cohen, Davidson
JP
Kuhlman, Davidson
Kyle
Randall, UNC Greensboro
Malcolm
U. Pitt Player of the Year
Donald Sims, Appalachian State
Freshman
of the Year
Jake Cohen, Davidson
Anton
Foy Coach of the Year
Mike Young, Wofford
