Muhammad, Davis receive top honors as men's basketball announces awards
Frank Davis won the Sam Harley Lynn Award and Elijah Muhammad captured the John P. Hendrix Leadership Award as was also named the team’s Most Valuable Player, as coach Mike Sutton announced the men's basketball team’s 2009-10 award winners.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Frank Davis was the recipient of the Sam Harley Lynn Award for his overall contributions to the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball program, and senior Elijah Muhammad captured the John P. Hendrix Leadership Award as was also named the team’s Most Valuable Player, as head coach Mike Sutton announced the team’s 2009-10 award winners.
Junior Alfred Jones and sophomore Zach Bailey each won two awards and four other Golden Eagles received honors, presented by Sutton recently at the team’s annual Awards Dinner.
The Golden Eagle Award went to freshman Terrell Barnes, while the two Academic Awards went to Frank Davis and Riley Hunley.
Jones received the Most Improved Player award, while sophomore Kevin Murphy repeated as the Best Offensive Player winner and Bailey was named Best Defensive player for the second straight year.
Sutton also presented seven team awards based on 2009-10 statistics.
“Frank Davis has been a very important part of our program for the past four years and he was one of the best shooters in the country,” Sutton said of his senior guard from Gainesville, Ga., in presenting the Sam Harley Lynn Award. “He was among the hardest workers on our team, and he showed great poise and leadership.
“Frank has unbelievable character, his academics are outstanding, and he was a leader throughout his career with his citizenship and sportsmanship,” Sutton added.
In addition, Davis won the team’s Cumulative Academic Award, going through his Golden Eagle career with a 3.41 GPA. He served as a team co-captain along with Muhammad, and won the team’s 3-Point Shooting Award.
As a senior, Davis was named second-team NABC all-district as he
ranked second on the team in both scoring (13.4 ppg) and steals and
third in assists. He led the OVC in 3-pointer per game, ranked
11th in scoring, fourth in 3-point percentage and fifth
in free throw percentage.
Muhammad, a senior from Columbus, Ohio, wrapped up his two-year
Tech career by accepting the Leadership Award and the MVP award. He
also won team awards for leading the Golden Eagles in both assists
and steals.
Muhammad averaged 11.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, and his totals of 143 assists and 44 steals topped the squad. He ranked second in the OVC in assists, and was ninth in the league in both steals and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Jones, the only player to start all 32 games, accepted three honors from Sutton, including the Most Improved Player award. The other two were the Top Rebounder and Field Goal Percentage awards. Jones, a junior from Springfield, Ill., led the Ohio Valley Conference in field goal percentage, hitting 120-for-180 for 66.7 percent of his shots. He topped Tech and ranked 12th in the OVC in rebounds.
Bailey earned the Best Defensive Player award and also claimed the honor for best free throw percentage. The 6-1 guard from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., overcame an early injury to finish hitting 84.5 percent at the charity line.
Murphy, the leading scorer on the squad averaging 15.3 points per game, was named Best Offensive Player. He nearly doubled his freshman scoring output, finishing with 491 total points and ranked fifth in the OVC.
The Golden Eagle Award went to Barnes, a freshman post player from Riverdale, Ga. Barnes averaged 4.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in his debut campaign.
“Terrell came in and competed every single day,” Sutton said. “He never complained about anything, and he just fought and fought, and was solid in many areas. He showed an outstanding work ethic and showed great effort every single day.”
Bassey Inameti, a sophomore forward from Lawrenceville, Ga., won the award for Most Blocked Shots. He finished with 23 blocks and ranked 10th in the OVC while averaging 4.3 points and 2.9 rebounds, and shooting 52.3 percent.
The Academic Award for the best GPA during the Fall semester
went to Hunley, a sophomore guard from Knoxville, who posted a
perfect 4.0 average. The Cumulative GPA Award went to Davis.
Shown in photo above --
Front row, from left: Zach Bailey, Frank Davis and Elijah
Muhammad.
Back row from left: Kevin Murphy, Alfred Jones, Terrell Barnes
and Riley Hunley.
