CORVALLIS, Ore. – In its first year as a full member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Lewis-Clark State College won the CCC Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank. The fourth-ranked Warriors highlighted the postseason All-CCC awards, released Tuesday, with head coach Austin Johnson earning the Coach of The Year award.
Damek Mitchell was named Player of the Year, Hodges Bailey grabbed Defensive Player of the Year and Oreon Courtney grabbed the Newcomer of the Year honor. College of Idaho’s Jake O’Neil picked up Freshman of the Year recognition, as well.
In his third year with the Warriors, Johnson led LC State to its first CCC championship and heads into the NAIA postseason with an 18-1 record – the only loss coming from another top-five ranked squad.
Mitchell ranks second on the team with 14.7 points per game on a .456 field-goal percentage, including an impressive .431 clip from beyond the arc. The senior guard from Bellingham, Wash., averages 5.8 rebounds per game and leads the team with 93 assists on the year. He was named the CCC Player of the Week three times this year and has scored in double figures in all but four games for LC State.
Bailey has helped the Warriors limit opponents to 65.4 points per game to give LC State a 20.8 average scoring margin. The senior guard from Centrailia, Wash., helped guard the perimeter for the Warriors, keeping the opposition to a .304 three-point field-goal percentage with 8.1 made triples per game. Offensively, Hodges is third on the team with 12.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He also has 11 steals on the year.
Courtney made one start as a true freshman, averaging 14.4 minutes per game. He boasts a .730 field-goal percentage with 8.3 points per game. The guard from Corvallis, Ore., also averages 3.8 boards per game, has dished out eight assists and grabbed 13 steals in his collegiate debut season.
O’Neil helped lead the Coyotes through a challenging year with an 8-9 overall record, with five of those losses coming at the hand of NCAA Division I programs. The freshman guard from Fruitland, Idaho, sits third on the team with 10.7 points per game and is the top rebounder with 8.1 boards per game. He also has a .511 field-goal percentage, six blocks, and 10 steals in his collegiate debut season.
Along with Mitchell and Bailey, LC State’s Trystan Bradley and C of I’s Jalen Galloway and Ricardo Time also picked up all-conference honors.
Due to the unprecedented season with only two teams competing during the traditional season, this year’s all-conference was altered slightly with a selection committee voting for the awards. Honorable mention was awarded to players who had at least two votes from the selection committee.
Here is the complete list of 2020-21 award winners and all-conference honorees.