Southern Oregon’s Thompson Named CCC Preseason Men's Basketball Player of the Year
LA GRANDE, Ore. – After earning second-team NAIA All-American accolades last season, Southern Oregon’s Eric Thompson has been named 2014-15 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball Preseason Player of the Year by a vote of the CCC’s head coaches.
The 15-person preseason All-CCC team features five returnees from last year and 10 newcomers.
Thompson finished the previous season averaging 20.3 points per game, good enough for second in the conference, along with 7.7 rebounds per game. He played in all 31 of SOU’s contests with an average of 30.3 minutes per game. The Roseburg, Ore. native is joined by teammate Tim Weber (9.0 points per game), a senior guard.
CCC favorites, The College of Idaho, had three players named to the squad in senior guards Josh Wilson (9.0) and Demetrius Perkins (14.1) along with senior center Marko Kovacevic, a transfer from the University of Utah.
Oregon Tech, Warner Pacific and Concordia each had two players selected to the team. Senior guard Brandon Bautista (10.1) and senior forward Kyle Waits (14.6) represent the Owls while Warner Pacific had senior forward Doug Thomas (15.9) and senior guard Ryan Parks (12.2) named. Representing Concordia are senior forward Esvan Middleton (9.1) and senior guard Tyler Velasquez (9.6).
Other representatives include Austin Kuemper (16.7) of Northwest Christian, Jordan Carter (17.3) of Corban, Nemanja Grujici (10.9) of Northwest and Bryan McGriff of Eastern Oregon.
2014-15 CCC Preseason All-Conference Men’s Basketball Team
Name |
Institution |
Pos. |
Class |
PPG |
RPG |
Hometown |
^Eric Thompson |
Southern Oregon |
F |
Sr. |
20.3 |
7.7 |
Roseburg, OR. |
Demetrius Perkins |
College of Idaho |
G |
Sr. |
14.1 |
3.8 |
Compton, CA |
Austin Kuemper |
Northwest Christian |
F |
Jr. |
16.7 |
8.4 |
Portland, OR |
Esvan Middleton |
Concordia |
F |
Sr. |
9.1 |
9.7 |
Culver City, CA |
Doug Thomas |
Warner Pacific |
F |
Sr. |
15.9 |
5.1 |
Beaverton, OR. |
Brandon Bautista |
Oregon Tech |
G |
Sr. |
10.1 |
2.3 |
Kapaau, HI. |
Jordan Carter |
Corban |
G |
Sr. |
17.3 |
4.9 |
Salem, OR |
Josh Wilson |
College of Idaho |
G |
Sr. |
9.0 |
5.0 |
Los Angeles, CA. |
Nemanja Grujici |
Northwest |
F |
Sr. |
10.9 |
7.5 |
Ratkovo, Serbia |
Kyle Waits |
Oregon Tech |
F |
Sr. |
14.6 |
7.5 |
Medford, OR. |
Tyler Velasquez |
Concordia |
G |
Sr. |
15.0 |
2.8 |
Colorado Springs, CO. |
+Marko Kovacevic |
College of Idaho |
C |
Sr. |
1.7* |
0.7* |
Belgrade, Serbia |
Ryan Parks |
Warner Pacific |
G |
Sr. |
5.5 |
2.8 |
Las Vegas, NV |
+Bryan McGriff |
Eastern Oregon |
F |
Jr. |
16.5 |
1.9 |
Las Vegas, NV. |
Tim Weber |
Southern Oregon |
G |
Sr. |
9.0 |
4.9 |
Roseburg, OR |
^indicates Preseason Player of the Year; +indicates CCC newcomer; *indicates statistics from previous school, RS indicates did not play in 2013-14, NS indicates no stats available in category