Murray State University Athletics
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MSU's Cronin Named OVC Coach Of The Year, Witherspoon All-OVC First Team
3/1/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
In his third season at MSU, Cronin and the Racers were picked as the team to beat in the preseason and they backed that up by taking the OVC regular season championship with a 17-3 mark, three games ahead of second place Samford.
Those 17 wins are an OVC record as the Racers have piled up 22 wins against only six losses.
It's Cronin's first OVC Coach of the Year award.
Junior Shawn Witherspoon is a first team All-OVC selection.
And while his numbers don't jump off the page, its his intangibles that opened the eyes of OVC coaches.
For much of the season Witherspoon was the only player in the OVC leading his team in scoring, rebounding and assists.
Twice this season he has come very close to scoring a rare triple double and has six double-double to date this season.
Witherspoon has passed 500 career points in the OVC and
tied for second among Conference rebounding leaders with a team-high 7.7 average on the glass to go with his team-best 10.7 scoring average.
He also has the OVC's top assist/turnover ratio (2.39) and has 37 steals this season in 20 OVC games.
Here are all of the OVC post-season awards:
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
* J. Robert Merritt, Samford* - F, Sr., 6-6, 220 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Shawn Witherspoon, Murray State - F, Jr., 6-5, 208 - Oviedo, Florida
Jared Newson, UT Martin - F, Sr., 6-5, 215 - Belleville, Illinois
Zac Schlader, Austin Peay - C, Sr., 6-9, 220 - Columbia, Missouri
Jason McLeish, Eastern Kentucky - G, Sr., 6-0, 165 - Queens, New York
# Walker D. Russell, Jacksonville State# - G, Sr., 6-0, 170 - Pontiac, Michigan
Note: Due to ties, six players were chosen to the All-OVC first team
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
Matt Witt, Eastern Kentucky - G, Sr., 6-0, 180 - Tipp City, Ohio
Clarence Matthews, Tennessee State - F, Jr., 6-7, 250 - Beaumont, Texas
Maurice Hampton, Austin Peay - G, Sr., 6-2, 180 - Russellville, Kentucky
Kareem Grant, Tennessee State - F, Sr., 6-6, 190 - Middletown, Connecticut
Roy Booker, Southeast Missouri - G, Sr., 6-3, 205 - Portageville, Missouri
\Milone Clark, Tennessee Tech - G, Sr., 6-4, 215 - Gibson, North Carolina
Note: Due to ties, six players were chosen to the All-OVC second team
ALL-NEWCOMER TEAM
Courtney Bradley, Jacksonville State - F, Jr., 6-5, 215 - Utica, Mississippi
Roy Booker, Southeast Missouri - G, Sr., 6-3, 205 - Portageville, Missouri
Clarence Matthews, Tennessee State - F, Jr., 6-7, 250 - Beaumont, Texas
Belton Rivers, Tennessee Tech - G, So., 6-4, 205 - Atlanta, Georgia
Shaun Williams, Morehead State - F, Jr., 6-6, 225 - Irvington, New Jersey
OVC Player of the Year: J. Robert Merritt, Samford
OVC Coach of the Year: Mick Cronin, Murray State
OVC Freshman of the Year: Mike Robinson, Eastern Illinois
* - All-OVC 1st Team in 2004-05
# - All-OVC 2nd Team in 2004-05
