Tiffin, Ohio – March 22, 2010 – Second-year head coach Anthony Gholson and the Heidelberg University men’s basketball team officially closed its 2009-10 season over the weekend at its annual end of the year banquet held at Camden Falls Reception Center in Tiffin, Ohio.
The coaching staff honored all members of the team that went 15-13 overall and 9-9 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Berg made its 49th appearance, fourth-consecutive, in the OAC Tournament where it went on to vie for its seventh tournament title in the history of the program.
A total of 21 players earned a varsity letter led by four-year letter winners Josh Calver (Shelby, Ohio / Shelby), Jim Smalley (Middleburg Heights, Ohio / Midpark) and Travis Kinn (Alvada, Ohio / New Riegel).
The team had five statistical awards that were handed out. Calver won the Playmaker Award, which goes to the assist leader on the team. He dished out 85 assists on the year for an average of 3.0 a game.
Two shared Chairman of the Boards honors. Taking home rebounding honors were freshmen Nate Davis (Dayton, Ohio / Stivers) and Adrian Casey Jr. (Lorain, Ohio / Admiral King). The duo each hauled in a team-best 5.2 boards an outing.
Two sharpshooting honors were handed out as well. Davis earned the Sharpshooter Award, which goes to the player with the highest combination of field goal percentage and free throw percentage. From the field Davis shot 63.6 percent and was a 67.3 percent shooter from the charity stripe.
Taking home the Long Distance Sharpshooter Award was Calver. He connected on a team-best 47 from long range and had a team-high 39.2 percent three-point shooting percentage.
Rounding out the annual awards handed out by the coaching staff was the Practice Player of the Year Award which went to Davis.
The banquet concluded with the player voted honors. As voted by his teammates, Calver was tabbed Heidelberg’s Most Valuable Player after averaging a team-best 13.8 points a game, to go along with 3.3 rebounds a night and 3.0 assists an outing. He was also named to the All-OAC Second Team and earned a spot on the Academic All-OAC Team and the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV First Team.
The Mr. Defense Award went to Smalley for his efforts on the defensive end of the floor. The honor is bestowed to the top defender on the team.
The final player voted award handed out was the Red Badge of Courage. This award is given to an overall tough player that perseveres through injury and is someone you would like to go to battle with. The badge of courage is "red" because red is the color of passion and of blood. The red represents the struggle to do what is brave. The 2010 honoree of the Red Badge of Courage was OAC Freshman of the Year Dane Givner (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Harvest Preparatory).