— By Bill Cornwell
A pair of seniors from Marshall’s men’s basketball team were honored by the Sun Belt Conference this week for their accomplishments in the recently completed regular season.
Wyatt Fricks was named first-team All-Sun Belt and teammate Jalen Speer was a second-team honoree.
Fricks, a five-year member of the Marshall program, averages 15.6 points and 5.6 rebounds to go with 45 blocks. The Lawrenceville, Georgia native scored double figures in 24 contests, with eight games of 20 or more, including a career-high 34 against Elon.
Fricks also registered three double-doubles including one against Miami Ohio, the nation’s lone remaining unbeaten.
Speer leads the team with a scoring average of 15.7 assists and is tops in the Sun Belt with 170 assists.
The Gainesville, Florida native had 23 games with at least 10 points and nine with 20 or more, including a career-high 39 at Coastal Carolina last month.
Speer also recorded at least five assists in 19 games with 10 or more in three, including a career-high 12 against Elon.
South Alabama guard Chaze Harris was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and Troy’s Scott Cross was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
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Marshall women’s scoring leader Timaya Lewis-Eutsey earned multiple honors in being named all-conference first team, league Newcomer of the Year and a member of the Sun Belt All-Defensive team.
The Herd have now had at least one first-team all-conference honoree in three straight seasons.
Lewis-Eutsey joined the Herd ahead of this season after transferring from Virginia Commonwealth. She finished as the Sun Belt’s leading scorer with an average of 19.4 points and tops the conference with 3.6 steals per game. Her 112 steals are 34 more than anybody else in the Sun Belt and ranks No. 4 among all Division I players.
Lewis-Eutsey shot an efficient 49 percent and had six games with 30 or more points, 12 with 20-plus, while registering double-figure scoring 26 times.
Lewis-Eutsey also averages almost four assists and four rebounds and ranks fifth in the Sun Belt with 121 assists.
Georgia Southern forward Kishyah Anderson was named the Sun Belt Women’s Player of the Year, while the Eagles’ Hana Haden was the pick as the league’s Women’s Coach of the Year.