By Jim Richards
The top prize is still out there, but the awards keep coming in for the SMCC men's basketball team.
One week before they'll will play for the right to go to the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, three Cougars were honored this week by the ACCAC.
In awards selected by the coaches of the ACCAC, head coach Dan Nichols picked up the ACCAC's Coach of the Year award while SMCC forward Dave Cuen was named to the conference's 1st Team and guard Tyrone Kelly to the 2nd team.
Nichols, in his sixth season at SMCC, guided the Cougars to a 16-6 conference record that was good for third place in the overall standings and a convincing eight-game bulge over Phoenix College in the ACCAC Div.II race. The Cougars also maxed out at No.8 in the NJCAA Div.II rankings.
Nichols shared the coaching award with Arizona Western coach Kelly Green. It was his first top coaching award after a couple of runner-ups.
"I've been the runner-up a couple of times so a win is a win," Nichols joked. "Maybe they felt sorry for me."
The steady Cuen has been a leader on both ends of the floor for the Cougars. He averaged 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds this season.
"He put in two solid years and he deserved it," Nichols said.
Nichols said that he thought Cuen and Kelley split coaches' votes.
"Some teams had just one outstanding guy," Nichols said. "I thought they split the votes. Maybe they'll get some All-American votes."
Kelley, a re-entry student, resurfaced after a four-year hiatus from the ACCAC. He played his freshman year at Eastern Arizona.
He led the Cougars with a 15.9 scoring average and two ACCAC-II Player of the Week awards. Fans in attendance of the Feb. 13 triple-overtime win over Cochise College won't soon forget Kelley's performance that night. He netted 40 points, hitting 26 of 30 free throws in the victory.
Nichols said Kelley is as good a defender and is as good as getting to the basket as any player he's had.
The Cougars are off until Saturday night's NJCAA Region I Division II title game when they'll face the the survivor of Phoenix College, Chandler-Gilbert, Glendale or North Arkansas, who will battle in Rounds 1 and 2 Wednesday and Friday.
A victory Saturday night would lift the Cougars to their first NJCAA tournament.