Men's Basketball Picked Third in KIAC Preseason Poll
BEREA, Ky. – Asbury men’s basketball was picked to finish third in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference by league coaches as announced by league officials on Thursday. Asbury was voted 35th in the NAIA Pre-Season Poll on Wednesday.
The Eagles finished last season at 12-17 overall and 5-8 in the KIAC but managed to upset then No. 17 Indiana East in the first round of the KIAC Tournament before falling in the semifinals. Asbury returns Adam Delph and DQ Gordon from ACL injuries a season ago. Delph was the team’s second leading scorer in 2010-11 before missing all of last season. Coach Will Shouse expects to have Lee’Vaughn Morris more this year after the junior played in just six games dealing with a stress fracture.
Asbury also welcomes back the top four scorers from last year’s team including Austin Flannery and Dakotah Euton who both earned All-KIAC honors a year ago. Flannery led the team with 16.1 points per game and shot 35% from three-point range while Euton averaged 14.9 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. Also returning is senior center Justin Jones who led the NAIA DII in rebounds a year ago at 9.0 per game. Jones also blocked 60 shots and will look to move into first place in Asbury’s history with 34 this year.
Indiana Southeast was the unanimous pick to win the conference, taking all nine first place votes and 81 total points. The Grenadiers were voted No. 6 in the Preseason NAIA poll. Indiana East was picked second in the conference with 71 points and Asbury followed with 63 points. The Red Wolves were also in the NAIA Preseason poll at No. 22. Both IUS and IUE participated in the NAIA National Tournament a season ago.
Rounding out the KIAC coach’s preseason poll were Berea and Alice Lloyd tied for fourth with 41 points. Brescia was sixth with 38 points and KIAC newcomer Point Park was picked seventh with 36 points. Cincinnati Christian was eighth with 22 points and St. Louis Pharmacy was picked ninth with 12 points.
Asbury will get their season started on Friday November 2 with the Tip-Off Classic in the Luce Center. The Eagles will play Johnson University on Friday before wrapping up the weekend on Saturday against Mid-Continent University.
