Price Named All-Big 5, Stukes Earns Big 5 Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Courtesy of GoExplorers.com

PHILADELPHIA – La Salle junior Jordan Price (Decatur, Ga. / SW DeKalb / Auburn) was named to the All-Philadelphia Big 5 Second Team and sophomore Amar Stukes (Philadelphia, Pa. / La Salle College HS) was named the Big 5 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, it was announced today.  The pair will be honored at the Big 5 Banquet on Monday, April 11 at 6:30 PM at the Palestra.

Price received All-Big 5 honors for the second straight season and picked up the Palumbo Award as the Big 5’s leading scorer at 19.2 points per game. He is La Salle’s first Palumbo Award winner since Rasual Butler in 1999-00 and just the fifth player to receive the honor, which was first awarded in 1988-89. In addition to Price and Butler, Donnie Carr (1996, 1997, 1998), Randy Woods (1992) and Lionel Simmons (1989, 1990) also were Palumbo Award recipients.

The guard ended his junior season with 1,164 points at La Salle, which ranks 40^th on the all-time scoring list. He has 1,309 points in his collegiate career.

The 1,164 points after two seasons in an Explorer uniform are the fourth most in program history, behind Simmons (1,462), Michael Brooks (1,275) and Kareem Townes (1,226).

Stukes is the second straight Explorer to receive the Big 5’s top academic honor following Hank Davis last season. Of the six years that the award has been handed out, La Salle has been featured three times. Steve Weingarten was honored as the first Big 5 Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2011.

Stukes started 28 games in the backcourt, averaging 5.8 ppg. and a team-best 3.2 assists per game. He ranked third in the A-10 in assist to turnover ratio (2.4:1) and averaged 8.4 ppg. over his final 12 games.

He is an accounting major with a 3.35 grade point average.

The Big 5 banquet is Monday, April 11 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Palestra.  Tickets are $10 each and are available at the door the night of the banquet.  Along with the current season men’s and women’s award winners, five of the greatest men’s basketball teams in Big 5 history will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, including the 1968-69 Explorers that reached as high as #2 in the Associated Press poll.

 

2016 Philadelphia Big 5 Awards

 

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  DeAndre’ Bembry (Saint Joseph’s)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:  Jalen Brunson (Villanova)

COACH OF THE YEAR:  Phil Martelli (Saint Joseph’s)

TEAM CHAMPIONS:  Villanova Wildcats

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER:  Isaiah Miles (Saint Joseph’s)

SCHOLAR ATHLETE:  Amar Stukes (La Salle)

LEADING SCORER:  Jordan Price (La Salle)

LEADING FREE THROW SHOOTER:  Isaiah Miles (Saint Joseph’s)

 

MEN’S FIRST TEAM

Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova)
DeAndre’ Bembry (Saint Joseph’s)
Quenton DeCosey (Temple)
Josh Hart (Villanova)
Isaiah Miles (Saint Joseph’s)

 

MEN’S SECOND TEAM

Jaylen Bond (Temple)
Kris Jenkins (Villanova)
Darien Nelson-Henry (Penn)
Daniel Ochefu (Villanova)
Jordan Price (La Salle)