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| Sheldon Pace was named a 2nd Team all-American by Daktronics. |
EDINBORO, PA. ... Gaining all-American status, senior Sheldon Pace picked up his first all-American award of the 2005-06 season being named to the 2006 Daktronics NCAA Division II team. The team is voted upon by the NCAA Division II sports information directors of the United States.
"I am real happy for Sheldon. He came to SBU when the program was not doing to well. Not too many players of his caliber would have the confidence to come here and turn this program around," says head coach Jeff Guiot. "Sheldon will go down as one of the best players in this program and is probably one the best, ever, to play at SBU. He led us with leadership at both ends of the floor and has help put SBU back on the map. It is a good tribute to his teammates, too."
Pace, who was named to the South Central Regional all-Tournament team, was the only MIAA player to be named all-American. He finished the season averaging 13.9 points per game, 8.2 assists per game, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. He now holds the SBU single season record for steals (70) and assists (265). Both of the records were over 15 years old that were broken.
He finished 2nd in the Bob Cousy Award fan voting with a weighed total of 135,293 votes behind the University of Illinois' Dee Brown votes of 218,619.
Claiming the MIAA MVP and MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, Pace was unanimously voted onto the all-MIAA First-Team for a second year in a row and the MIAA all-Defensive team. He was the MIAA Player of the Week four times for his play and voted the MIAA Tournament MVP and to the MIAA all-Tournament team. In the region, he made the Daktronics all-South Central Region First-Team and the all-South Central Regional Tournament team.
SBU finished the year at 27-5 and #6 in the nation. They won the MIAA regular season championship, outright, and then claimed the MIAA Tournament championship. Both championships were the first for SBU in 15 years. The Bearcats then maded the NCAA Tournament and were the #1 seed in the South Central Regional Tournament in which they hosted.
Daktronics All-America Team
First Team
Name School Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown
Walt Baxley Mars Hill W 6-3 180 Sr. Winston-Salem, NC
Grant Dykstra Western Washington G/F 6-4 185 Sr. Everson, WA
Jasper Johnson Delta State F 6-7 256 Sr. Hollandale, MISS
Tayron Thomas# Philadelphia G 6-2 190 Sr. Bristol, PA
Turner Trofholz$ South Dakota F 6-8 235 Sr. Schuyler, NEB
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jasper Johnson, Delta State
Second Team
Luke Anderson Minnesota State G/F 6-6 190 Jr. Bloomington, MN
Duan Crockett Virginia Union G/F 6-6 175 Sr. Richmond, VA
Stacey Moragne# UMass-Lowell F 6-4 216 Sr. Evanston, IL
Sheldon Pace Southwest Baptist G 6-1 200 Sr. Los Angeles, CA
Chris Thompson Southern Indiana F 6-6 210 Sr. Starke, FL
Third Team
Michael Ford West Georgia G 6-1 195 Sr. Macon, GA
Shaun McKie Salem International G 6-3 180 Jr. Philadelphia, PA
Sullian Sykes St. Joseph’s G/F 6-4 205 Sr. New Orleans, LA
John Williams Bryant G 6-0 165 Sr. Springfield, MA
David Zellmann Winona State G 6-2 Sr. Lewiston, MN
# 2005 second team selection $ 2005 third team selection
