Howland, Fenlon earn SCAC top honors; four Tigers are all-SCAC

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February 27, 2002 - Senior point guard Mike Howland (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year in voting by the conference's 10 head coaches.

Howland, one of three Tigers named to the first team, leads the SCAC with 6.4 assists per contest which is an SCAC single-season record as are his 160 total assists. The four-year starter for the 22-3 Tigers averaged 11.5 points per game and set a conference and school record during the season with 15 assists against Rhodes on January 27.

Senior Joe Nixon (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and junior Joe Ringger (Westville, Ind./Chesterton) joined Howland on the first team. Nixon was the runner-up for Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. He leads the Tigers in scoring with 17.4 points per game, is third with 5.2 rebounds and second with 1.8 assists.

Ringger is second on the team with 17.3 points per outing and leads the team with 8.1 rebounds per contest, while shooting 61.3 percent from the field.

Junior Jeremy Bettis (Mecca, Ind./Riverton Parke) was a second team selection and averages 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Bettis has recorded nine double-doubles on the season and has scored in double figures in all but one game this season.

Head coach Bill Fenlon was named the SCAC Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to their first conference championship since 1993 (Fenlon's first year at DePauw) and first in four years as members of the SCAC. The 10th-year head coach is second in DePauw history in victories and has posted a 165-90 mark at DePauw. In 17 years as a collegiate head coach, Fenlon has totaled a 273-159 mark.

The Tigers, ranked seventh by both Basketball America and D3Hoops.com, begin NCAA Championship play on Saturday when they host a second-round game against the winner of Thursday's Franklin at Wittenberg game.