Seven Horizon League Players Earn NABC All-District Honors; Bryce Drew District 12 Coach of the Year

The Horizon League represented seven of the 10 selections on the NABC All-District 12 team that was announced on Friday morning. In addition to the players, Horizon League Coach of the Year Bryce Drew was named the District 12 Coach of the Year.

Two-time Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes of Green Bay was joined by Valparaiso's Alec Peters and Oakland's Kahlil Felder on the First-team, while Cleveland State's Anton Grady and Trey Lewis, Detroit's Juwan Howard Jr., and Oakland's Corey Petros were all on the Second Team.

Sykes’ laundry list of awards continues to grow. The Chicago native is a two-time Horizon League Player of the Year, a three-time All-Horizon League selection, a two-time USBWA All-Region honoree, a 13-time Horizon League Player of the Week, a Bob Cousy Award Finalist, a member of the Wooden Award and Naismish Award Watch Lists, and an Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention.

As a senior in 2014-15, Sykes averaged 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and four assists per game while helping the Phoenix to a 24-9 overall record.

In his standout Phoenix career, Sykes racked up 2,096 points, 526 assists, 467 rebounds and 155 steals. He ranks second on Green Bay’s all-time scoring list while also finishing his career ranked first in free throws made (557), tied for first in games started (125), third in assists (526), fourth in field goals made (708), tied for fourth in games played (127) and seventh in steals (155).

He finished his career ranked second in program history in scoring and as the only player in Horizon League history to accumulate 2,000-plus points, 500-plus assists and 400-plus rebounds.

Felder finished second in the country with 7.6 assists per game and led the Horizon League with 14 games of 20 points or more. A sophomore point guard from Detroit, Felder also led the league with 2.0 steals per game and led Oakland by scoring 18.1 points per game, tied for 45th in the NCAA with Duke's Jahlil Okafor. He posted a career-best six double-doubles.

Peters took another step forward after a solid freshman campaign, cementing himself as one of the top mid-major underclassmen in the country.  Peters paced the Crusaders with 16.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in 2014-15, claiming Horizon League Tournament MVP accolades after being named a First Team All-League honoree.  The sophomore ranked among the top-20 in the nation in 3-point percentage (46.6%) and sits among the top-10 in the nation in Ken Pomeroy’s Offensive Efficiency metric.

Grady was one of the top post players in the Horizon League, ranking ninth in scoring (14.3), second in rebounding (7.9), seventh in steals (1.5), fourth in blocked shots (1.4) and 10th in field goal percentage (.488).

He led the league with 11 double-doubles and was the only player in the Horizon League ranked in the top-six in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, steals and blocks in league only games.

Grady became the 22nd player in CSU history to reach 1,000 career points in a Feb. 4 win over Youngstown State and is the only player in program history with 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career.

Lewis finished the season ranked fifth in the league in scoring (16.3) and 10th in assists (2.9) and steals (1.2). He led the league with 96 three-pointers, setting a CSU single season record and breaking the old mark by 15 makes. In addition, he ranked fifth in the league, shooting .423 from three-point.

Lewis reached the 1,000 point mark for his career in the Feb. 20 win at Green Bay and has scored 987 in two seasons at CSU (he scored 111 points as a freshman at Penn State). Lewis was one of just three players in the league with multiple 30-point games this season and became the first CSU player to score 30 or more points in multiple games in a season since Norris Cole in 2010-11.

Howard, who was also named to the All-Horizon League Second Team and the All-HL First Team by College Sports Madness, finished his senior campaign averaging 17.5 ppg, which ranked third in the Horizon League. He also finished third in free throw percentage (85.0%), sixth with 1.9 three-point field goals made per game and eighth in three-point field goal percentage (40.8%), all while leading the Titans with 2.4 assists per game.

He played in all 33 games this season averaging 31.6 minutes per game and scored in double figures 28 times, with 14 20-point scoring efforts.

A native of Macomb, Mich., Petros led the Horizon League for the second consecutive season in rebounding (8.2) and offensive rebounds per game (3.3). He also led the league with a .602 field goal percentage (10th in the country) and finished second with 10 double-doubles. Petros ranked 10th in the Horizon League by scoring 14.3 points per game.

Drew earned District Coach of the Year honors for the first time after being named Horizon League Coach of the Year for the second time in his four-year tenure.  Drew led the Crusaders to a school-record 28 wins over the 2014-15 campaign, earning the program national recognition as Valpo received votes in both top-25 polls.  Under his leadership, Valpo claimed its third Horizon League regular season title and second league tournament championship over the last four years, and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time since 1996.