League Honors Brown, Hawk With Post-Season Awards
Posted: 2/28/2008
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Senior Darryl Brown finished his career in style, being recognized as one of the best players in the conference by league coaches.

Annville, PA — Two Messiah College men’s basketball players were honored by the MAC Commonwealth Conference Thursday, as senior Darryl Brown was selected to first-team all-conference honors while sophomore Andy Hawk garnered second-team accolades.

It was the first all-league honors for either player, as Brown finished eighth in the league in scoring (12 points per game) and Hawk sixth in rebounding, averaging 5.6 boards per contest.

“It is great to see both Darryl and Andy recognized by the other coaches in the league,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach. “They both are young men who work very hard both on the basketball court and off. While they are at different stages of their careers, they both were key to what we were about this season.”

Both Brown and Hawk scored double-figures on 16 occasions during the 2007-2008 season, with Hawk charting a team-leading four double-doubles. The 6-6 forward from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania averaged 10.8 points per game while finishing 13th in the league in scoring, fourth in field goal percentage (57.4 percent) and sixth in both offensive and defensive rebounding (1.92 and 3.64 board per game, respectively). Hawk scored a career-high 19 points against Elizabethtown College on Jan. 26, while pulling down a career-best 13 boards on two occasions — versus Lebanon Valley College on Jan. 22 and at Marymount University on Jan. 5.

Hawk led Messiah in scoring — as well as in rebounding — eight times during the season.

“Andy has worked really hard over the past year and I am happy that his hard work has been recognized by the other coaches in the league,” Van Pelt said. “With Andy being a sophomore and knowing the type of work ethic he has during the off-season, we are really excited about the type of player he can become as a junior and senior.

“Being named second-team all conference as a sophomore is exciting, and I think that will push him even more.”

Brown departs Messiah as one of the program’s most exciting — and emotional — players, leading the team in scoring six times despite playing with a bruised right shoulder for the latter part of the year. He finished eighth in the MAC Commonwealth in rebounding (5.1 per game) and 10th in defensive rebounding (3.48 per game) averaging 5.1 total rebounds per contest, second on the team only to Hawk.

Brown notched a career-high 24 points in the team’s 73-63 win at Marymount University on Jan. 5, while grabbing a season-high 10 boards against both Nazareth College (Dec. 29) and Wesley College (Nov. 16).

Beyond statistics, perhaps most notable was Brown’s infectious enthusiasm for the game, constantly smiling on the court with a penchant for increasing audience noise.

“Darryl obviously had a great career at Messiah and even though he played through some injuries this season was still an extremely dangerous player,” Van Pelt said. “Over his career it seemed like the bigger the game the better he played. He played without fear, even as a freshman. We will certainly miss his abilities and love for competition.”

Brown joined Albright College’s Albert Medoro, Elizabethtown’s Michael Schazmann, Widener University’s Charles Jones and Lycoming College’s Eric Anthony on the MAC Commonwealth First Team All-Conference. Medoro was named MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year. Lycoming’s Don Friday was named the league’s coach of the year after guiding his team to a conference record of 7-3 and the regular-season title. For a complete list of conference post-season awards, click here.