SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Omar Carter and Donald Sims earned men's basketball all-Southern Conference honors from the league's coaches, the SoCon office announced on Wednesday. College of Charleston's Andrew Goudelock and Bobby Cremins swept Player and Coach of the Year honors, respectively, while Western Carolina's Trey Sumler earned Freshman of the Year honors.
Appalachian (15-14, 10-8 SoCon) and regular season champion CofC are the only teams with multiple all-conference honorees on the 10-player squad. Sims is a repeat member of the squad after earning all-SoCon honors from the coaches last season and it is the first time since 2008 that ASU has placed two players on the all-conference squad, when Jeremy Clayton and Donte Minter earned all-conference accolades.
Sims ranks in the league's top 10 in six statistical categories, including second in scoring (21.3), third in three-pointers made (2.6) and free throw percentage (85.7), fifth in steals (1.8), seventh in assists (3.8), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) and he leads the league with 37.8 minutes played.
Sims earned November Player of the Month honors as well and has earned a program-record six Player of the Week awards. He owns five of ASU's career records (points, free throws, free throw percentage, three-point field goals and three-point attempts) and is just eight field goal attempts away from breaking a sixth program career offensive record.
In his first season wearing the Black and Gold, Carter ranked fifth in the conference in scoring at 16.5 points per game. He ranked second on the team and 11th in the league with 5.9 rebounds per contest. His 42.5 three-point percentage ranks sixth in the league, while his field goal mark of 47.4 percent ranks tied for 13th.
The junior scored 20 or more points 10 times and turned in a team-best three double-doubles on the season. He ranks second on the team and eighth in the league with 33.3 minutes per game. Carter is no stranger to postseason accolades as he was the 2008 Big South Freshman of the Year at Charleston Southern.
Both Carter and Sims earned two SoCon Player of the Week awards this season and turned in two of the league's four highest scoring outputs of the year, in Sims' 40 points at Mississipppi State and Carter's 35 points at Tulsa in ASU's season-opening win.
The pair played a large role in Appalachian's fast finish in the regular season as the squad won seven of its eight games in February to lock up the third seed in the SoCon North. The Apps open tournament play on Friday against Georgia Southern at 4:30 p.m. at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena.
COACHES POSTSEASON AWARDS
All-Conference Team
Omar Carter, Appalachian State
Donald Sims, Appalachian State
Andrew Goudelock, College of Charleston
Donavan Monroe, College of Charleston
Cameron Wells, The Citadel
Chris Long, Elon
Amu Saaka, Furman
Omar Wattad, Chattanooga
Mike Williams, Western Carolina
Noah Dahlman, Wofford
All-Freshman Team
Trent Wiedeman, College of Charleston
Lucas Troutman, Elon
Eric Ferguson, Georgia Southern
Trevis Simpson, UNCG
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina
Player of the Year
Andrew Goudelock, Sr., G, Coll. of Charleston
Defensive Player of the Year
Richie Gordon, Sr., F, Western Carolina
Freshman of the Year
Trey Sumler, Fr., G, Western Carolina
Coach of the Year
Bobby Cremins, College of Charleston
