Eight Eagles receive All-PC honors
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 26, 2015) – Tallahassee Community College placed a total of eight players, four men and four women, on the 2016 Coaches’ All-Panhandle Conference basketball teams.
Of the eight selections, four were named First-team All-PC – men’s players David Simmons and Daishon Smith and women’s players Lawriell Wilson and Eboni Watts.
Simmons and Smith also took home Panhandle Conference Freshman and Newcomer of the Year awards, respectively.
Simmons, from Henderson, Ky., shared top freshman honors with Northwest Florida State College’s Mustapha Diange. In 30 games, he averaged 14.2 points, 3.2 assists and a team-high 7.0 rebounds while shooting 53.3 percent from the field. He is the first Tallahassee player to be recognized as the coaches’ Freshman of the Year since current assistant coach Steve Cherry won the award in 2003.
Smith, a sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., is the Eagles’ first-ever Newcomer of the Year recipient. After playing his freshman season at Eastern Florida State College, Smith transferred to Tallahassee, where he played in 30 games and promptly led the Eagles in scoring (16.6 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg), both of which ranked second in the PC. He was also the team’s third-leading rebounder (5.5 rpg).
Wilson, a freshman from Kenner, La., played in 25 games and averaged a team-high 18.0 points and was the second-leading scorer in the PC. She also led the Eagles with 3.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game and was the team’s second-leading rebounder (5.9 rpg).
Watts, a sophomore from Macon, Ga., played in 22 games and averaged 14.7 points – second-best on the team – along with 4.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 steals.
Four other Eagles – Rashad Lewis and Deion Bute from the men’s team and women’s standouts Sabrina Banks and Lindsay John – were named Second-team All-PC.
Lewis, a sophomore from Valdosta, Ga., appeared in 30 games and averaged 11.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals. One of the Eagles’ top shooters, he led the team in three-point field goal percentage (40.6 percent) while his .833 free throw percentage was second-best on the squad.
Bute, a freshman from Phillipsburg, St. Maarten, appeared in 28 games and averaged 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while shooting at a .539 clip from the field.
Banks, a freshman from New Orleans, La., appeared in 29 games and was the team’s leading rebounder at 6.2 per game. She also averaged 11.3 points and 1.2 steals while shooting 44.0 percent from the field.
John, a freshman from Cholet, France, played in 27 games and averaged 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals.
The recipient of the Eddie Barnes Panhandle Conference Coach of the Year Award is Northwest Florida State’s Steve DeMeo. The men’s coach of the year award is named in honor of former Tallahassee head coach Eddie Barnes, who retired from coaching at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Barnes, who coached at Tallahassee from 2001-15, won 274 games and NJCAA District/FCSAA State Championships in 2006 and 2011.