Fletchall Coach of the Year; Johnson 1st team All-West
Barton County Community College men's basketball coach Craig Fletchall and sophomore Omar Johnson earned high conference honors Monday as Fletchall was tabbed the Coach of the Year in the Jayhawk West and Johnson was picked to the All-West 1st team. In addition to those two selections, Thiago Cordeiro was selected to the 2nd team All-West and Ivan Evans honorable mention.
Garden City's Julian Allen was named the West Player of the Year while Ricky Jackson of Cloud was voted the Freshman of the Year. Johnson, along with Allen and Jackson, were joined on the 1st team by Kevin Goffney of Pratt and Nate Brumfield of Hutch.
Craig Fletchall
Coach Fletchall led Barton to a tie for 2nd in the West after coaches around the conference picked his Cougars to finish 9th – last place – in the pre-season poll. Barton spent most of the season ranked in the Top 20, bolting to a 15-0 and 21-1 start before finishing 3-5 down the stretch and finishing with a 24-6 mark and the No. 3 from the West in the upcoming Region VI tournament.
Coach Fletchall is in his 2nd year guiding the Cougars, who finished 18-12 last season but just 6-10 in the West, tied for 8th place. This is the 1st Coach of the Year award for Coach Fletchall, who spent 6 seasons in the Jayhawk East at Neosho before coming to Barton. He is in his 8th season overall with a career mark of 143-76.
Omar Johnson
Johnson transferred into Barton from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and immediately became the team's leading scorer from his point guard spot. The 5-7, sophomore from Philadelphia has scored double figures in all but one contest this season. He leads the Cougars with a 17.6 average after spending some of the season scoring better than 20 per game.
This season Johnson has topped the 20-point mark on 9 occasions, scoring a career-high 29 in an overtime win against Brown Mackie. Johnson finished 7th in the West in scoring and led everyone in the West in assists and steals. Johnson handed out 6.5 assists per game and swiped 3.0 steals per contest.
Thiago Cordeiro
Cordeiro was a defensive force for the Cougars this season, leading the West and nation in blocked shots. Cordeiro is averaging 4.2 blocks this season, a full half-block better than the 2nd best in the West. Cordeiro will take an 11.5 scoring average and an 8.8 rebounding average into tomorrow's Region VI opener against Fort Scott.
The 6-9 sophomore from Brazil had a triple-double in a 55-54 win over Johnson in the Jayhawk Shoot-Out this year, posting 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks. It was his 2nd career triple-double after posting an 11-point, 14-rebound, 10-block effort at Seward last season. He has 9 double-doubles this season and 14 for his career. He has career highs of 24 points and 22 rebounds.
Ivan Evans
Another sophomore from Philly, Evans is 2nd on the team in scoring led Barton in rebounding during the 06-07 campaign. Evans was a 2nd team selection last season and the only Cougar to received recognition in 2006. Evans is the only Cougar to top the 30-point mark this season with a 31-point output against Carl Albert (Okla) earlier this season.
Evans is scoring 14.9 points per game is leads the Cougars at 9.4 rebounds. Evans has more double-doubles this season than any other Cougar, collecting 10 – 1 better than Cordeiro. Evans has grabbed 15 or more rebounds on 4 occasions this season with a high of 16 in a 25-point, 16-rebound effort in a road win at Garden. Evans is also 2nd on the team in assists (3.4) and steals (1.6).
All West
Coach of the Year – Craig Fletchall, Barton
Player of the Year – Julian Allen, Garden
Freshman of the year – Ricky Jackson, Cloud
1st Team
Julian Allen, soph, Garden
Omar Johnson, soph, Barton
Kevin Goffney, soph, Pratt
Nate Brumfield, soph, Hutch
Ricky Jackson, frosh, Cloud
2nd Team
Yima Chia-Kur, soph, Garden
Theron Wilson, soph, Seward
Julius Perkins, soph, Dodge
Wade Knapp, soph, Dodge
Thiago Cordeiro, soph, Barton
Honorable Mention
Jorge Canedo, soph, Colby
Michael Tyree, soph, Seward
Cassin Diggs, soph, cloud
Charlie Coley, soph, Dodge
Ivan Evans, soph, Barton
Stats
Full stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Wed, March 7 – v Fort Scott, 7 pm (Region VI 1st round in Great Bend at the Barton Gym)
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Check out Barton County Basketball Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports