Thomas and Brown Land on All-MVC Team

Men's Basketball 2/27/2018 10:00:00 AM

Senior forward Donte Thomas and sophomore guard Darrell Brown highlighted the conference honorees for the Bradley basketball team, announced by the Missouri Valley Conference on Tuesday.

Thomas was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, while Brown collected third-team accolades. Additionally, junior guard Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye was selected to the league's All-Defensive Team with rookie Elijah Childs earning MVC All-Freshman honors.

Thomas and Brown are the first Bradley duo to earn all-conference accolades since 2010 when Sam Maniscalco was named to the second team with Andrew Warren receiving honorable mention. It is also the first time 2008 that four Braves overall collected postseason accolades from the league.

One of the top ranked players in the MVC this season, Thomas has posted 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds during his senior campaign. In conference games only, Thomas ranks 11th with 13.8 points, second in boards with 8.1, fourth in field goal percentage at 55.6, seventh in free throw percentage at 76.4 and seventh with 1.1 blocks. The forward scored in double figures in 15-of-18 MVC contests, leading Bradley in scoring nine times this year and in boards on 17 occasions.

During his standout career, the Calumet City, Illinois, native ranks ninth in school history with 699 career rebounds to go with 965 points. Thomas was also honored by the conference in 2016 when he was selected to the Most Improved Team.

Brown is the first Bradley underclassmen to earn all-conference honors since Patrick O'Bryant was named to the All-MVC Second Team in 2006. An All-Freshman Team honoree last year, Brown leads the Braves with 13.3 points per game and is on course to become just the fourth player in BU history to lead the team in scoring as a freshman and sophomore. The Bradley point guard also has a team-best 4.5 assists per game – ranking second in The Valley. In 31 games this season, Brown scored in double figures 25 times, leading BU in points on 12 occasions and in assist 23 times.

The first Brave to be selected to the MVC All-Defensive Team since Walt Lemon in 2014, Lautier-Ogunleye anchored the nation's 24th-ranked scoring defense and the league's top field goal percentage defense during the 2017-18 campaign. Drawing the assignment of the opposing team's perimeter player thought the year, Lautier-Ogunleye was the only Brave to start all 31 contests with 7.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a junior.

Childs is the fifth Brave in the last three seasons to earn All-Freshman Team honors. The rookie made 11 starts during the season and averaged 8.6 points, 6.2 boards and a team-leading 1.4 blocks per game. He ranks third in the league among freshmen in scoring and rebounding, while placing third among all players in blocks. Overall, his 1.4 blocks are the third-most in school history by a freshman and the most by any Brave since the 2005-06 season.

The four players helped the Braves to their most successful year this decade. One of two schools nationally to improve by at least five wins in each of the last two years, Bradley earned a top-five seed for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time since 2010 with its 19 victories the most in a regular season since the 2006-07 campaign. The Braves now turn their attention toward the postseason with BU opening the 2018 State Farm MVC Tournament on Friday against Drake with tipoff set for 2:30 p.m.

Print Friendly Version