Ferris State's Keenan Named the Daktronics D-II Midwest Region "Player of the Year"

Release Courtsey of Al King:  Assistant Athletic Director, Media Relations, Ashland University

Keenan Headlines Daktronics NCAA Division II Midwest Region Team

Release Date: Immediate

Ashland, Ohio -- Ferris State senior forward Justin Keenan has been named the NCAA Division II Daktronics Midwest Region player of the year.  Keenan is one of five players named first team all-region. All five of those players will now move on to the Daktronics NCAA Division II national All-America ballot.

Joining Keenan on the Midwest Region First Team are Bellarmine guards Jeremy Kendle and Braydon Hobbs, Indianapolis guard Darius Adams and Missouri-St. Louis guard Gerald Fulton.

The Midwest Region Second Team consists of Grand Valley State guard-forward Justin Ringler, Wayne State guard Bryan Smothers, Southern Indiana center Mohamed Ntumba, Drury guard Alex Hall and Findlay guard Nathan Hyde.  Both all-region teams were selected by sports information directors within the Midwest Region.

Keenan is the 2010-11 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year.  This is the second consecutive season he’s been named the GLIAC player of the year. Keenan is the only Division II player to be ranked in the nation’s Top 20 in scoring (21.6 ppg.) and rebounding (9.9 rpg.).  The senior is the GLIAC’s all-time leading scorer (2,194 points).  This season he had 16 double-doubles and three games where he scored 30 or more points. Keenan has led the conference in scoring for three consecutive seasons. He was tabbed as the Division II Bulletin’s 2010-11 preseason national player of the year. Ferris State is 22-7 and headed to the NCAA playoffs.

Adams is the anchor for an Indianapolis team that is 19-8 and on the way to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 2005.  Adams is seventh in the nation in scoring (23.5 ppg.). In the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), he is first in scoring, second in steals (1.8 spg.), third in three-point field goals per game (2.7), sixth in free throw percentage (.870), 10^th in assists (3.9 apg.) and 13^th in rebounding (5.8 rpg.).

Bellarmine is 27-2, ranked second in the country and first in the Midwest Region.  Kendle and Hobbs have been stalwarts for the Knights in this special season. Kendle is the GLVC player of the year.  He is averaging 17.3 ppg., and has been named the conference’s player of the week three times this season.  Kendle is listed in the GLVC’s top 15 in assists, free throw percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio.  In two seasons at Bellarmine he has scored over 1,000 points.

Hobbs is third in the country in assists per game (6.6) and he leads the GLVC in that department.  A first team All-GLVC selection and a member of the GLVC all-tournament team, he is first in the GLVC and fifth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio. In the GLVC, Hobbs is second in steals, 11^th in blocked shots and among the top 10 in three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage.  He averages 12.6 ppg.

Fulton is the first UMSL player to earn first team All-GLVC laurels.  He averaged 22.0 ppg., which put him second in scoring in the GLVC and 11^th in the country. Fulton was third in the conference in three-point field goals (71) and fifth in free throw percentage (.878).  Fulton scored 20 or more points in a game 19 times and went over 30 points twice.  He led UMSL to 16 wins, the most for the program since 1990-91.  He helped the school to its first winning season within the conference (10-8).