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| Joey Verax |
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania’s Joey Verax has been named 2008-09 Player of the Year and Brian Lane Coach of the Year by the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Verax, a senior forward from Falmouth, Ky., was the leading scorer on a 21-5 Transy team that won the HCAC co-championship, then captured the league tournament and the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
Lane was named Coach of the Year for the third time after leading the Pioneers to their third regular season conference title and third NCAA berth in four years. He was also honored after the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Transy won 20 or more games for the third time in his eight years as the Pioneers’ head coach. His career record is 136-77.
Verax was joined on the All-HCAC first team by senior guard Aaron Cash, a Rockcastle County product. Senior forward Brock Jones (Madisonville, Ky.) and junior Tim Tierney (Ft. Wright, Ky.) were honorable mention picks.
Verax, who made the All-HCAC first team for the third straight year, led Transy in scoring with 16.2 points a game. He is also the team’s top rebounder at 5.8 a contest. Earlier this season, he became the 41st Pioneer to surpass 1,000 points for his career.
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| Brian Lane |
His current total of 1,275 is 25th all-time.
Cash was an honorable mention selection as a sophomore while Tierney was a first-team pick last year. Jones is on the squad for the first time.
Franklin’s Will Conoley was named Freshman of the Year and joined Cash and Verax on the 12-man first team.
Verax is the first Transy basketball player to be named HCAC Player of the Year for men’s basketball since the Pioneers joined the league in 2001-02.
Transy, ranked 24th in the country, opens play in the NCAA Division III regionals Friday, meeting Guilford at 8 p.m. in Danville, Ky.
For more information, contact Glenn Osborne, sports information director, at (859) 233-8284 or gosborne@transy.edu.