Trey Triplett is named the CCAC's 2009-10 Player of the Year for Men's DII Basketball
Milwaukee, Wis. – A successful regular season and conference season has led the No. 9 Cardinal Stritch University Wolves men’s basketball team to claiming several Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) awards as the NAIA national tournament looms on the horizon.
This year, the Wolves saw their senior scoring leader garner CCAC Player of the Year, while four total players from this year’s squad earned All-Conference status.
Senior Trey Triplett (Lisle, Ill.) was one of this year’s biggest award winners as the Wolves’ forward was named Player of the Year and named CCAC All-Conference for the fourth straight season. Triplett had another strong season for the Wolves as he led the team in total points (563), scoring average (17.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.559), field goals made (236), and rebounds (196).
An offensive machine, Triplett registered five double doubles during the season. He also has scored 20 or more points on 14 separate occasions this year. Perhaps one of the senior’s greatest accomplishments, however, was when he became the school’s all-time leading scorer. Triplett is currently the only player in Stritch history with over 2,000 career points as he currently has 2,196 total points.
“Trey has been unbelievable for this program,” Stritch head coach Drew Diener said. “He’s had a stellar career here at Stritch and it will be fun to see him get a chance to continue that with the national tournament on the horizon.”
The Wolves also had Kody Braddix (Glendale, Ariz.), Brandon D’Amico (Geneva, Ill.), and Navjot Singh (Mundelein, Ill.) all make appearances on this year’s list as well. Braddix and D’Amico join Triplett as first team members while Singh has been named honorable mention.
Braddix, a senior point guard, earns his second consecutive nod as an All-Conference honoree. After a strong junior season, the Wolves’ point guard returned to become another strong offensive weapon to cause problems for opposing defenses. Standing in at 5-foot-8, Braddix scored 539 points this season good for an average of 16.8 points per game.
Wanting to always be on the court, Braddix led Stritch in minutes played as he average 30.4 minutes per game. He was also one of the team’s top defenders as he tallied 65 steals and even chipped in with nine blocked shots.
Brandon D’Amico (Geneva, Ill.) also had a career year in this, his junior season. D’Amico developed into another potent offensive option for the Wolves as he was second on the team in total points (542) and points per game (16.9 ppg), all of which are career highs. The team’s sharp shooter from beyond the three-point line, D’Amico not only made good on a team-high 43 percent of his attempts, but also helped Stritch to be the best three-point shooting team in the NAIA, hitting on 41 percent of their long-range attempts.
Sophomore forward Navjot Singh added to the Wolves’ success and has been named honorable mention this year. The sophomore forward was second on the team in field goal percentage, with a shooting percentage of .548, and was second on the team in total rebounds with 168. Singh also notch a double double this season, his first of his career.
“All of these players are so deserving of these honors,” Diener added. “It’s really a credit to their hard work and hopefully it will another motivating factor for them to keep working hard to reach our ultimate goal of winning a championship.”
The Wolves will, indeed, continue their run to a national championship as the NAIA will announce the brackets for this year’s Division II Men’s Basketball Championship on Wed., March 3 at 3 p.m. With Stritch ranked ninth in the country, they are virtually assured an at-large bid despite falling in the CCAC Tournament Championship game.