THIAGO CORDEIRO AND CHAD HENDERSON NAMED FIRST-TEAM
ALL-GSC WEST DIVISION SELECTIONS

         BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys had two players named First-Team All-Gulf South Conference West Division selections on Monday.

Senior guard Chad Henderson (Memphis, Tenn.) and senior 6-foot-10 center Thiago Cordeiro (Recife, Brazil) were named First-Team All-GSC West Division selections. It is the second consecutive season that Tech has had a first-team All-GSC West selection and it is the first time since 1995-96 that Tech has had multiple first-team All-GSC selections.

The All-GSC teams are voted on by the league’s head coaches in their own respective divisions and the coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.

Christian Brothers, who won the GSC West Division title, swept the individual West Division awards, while the East Division awards were split among three different teams. CBU forward Nick Kohs was named the West Division Player of the Year, while Scott Dennis was named the West Division Freshman of the Year and Mike Neinaber was named the West Division Coach of the Year. In the East Division, North Alabama guard Kenny Johnson was named the East Division’s Player of the Year, while Alabama-Huntsville guard Josh Magette was named the East Division Freshman of the Year and Valdosta State’s Mike Helfer captured the division’s Coach of the Year honor as leading the Blazers to the East Division title.

Henderson earned First-Team honors after leading the Wonder Boys in scoring at 14.0 points per game and shooting 43 percent from the field and 71 percent at the free throw line. Henderson, who has scored 704 career points in two seasons with the Wonder Boys, has had 37 career double-figure scoring games, including 22 times this season and has also tallied 11 career 20-plus point scoring games, including seven this season. Henderson ended the regular season with six straight double-figure scoring games, including a career-high 28 point effort at Harding on Feb. 14. Henderson helped Tech qualify for the GSC Tournament for the second consecutive season and also win 19 games for the first time in the school’s Division II era.

Cordeiro, who is a senior transfer from the University of Dayton, earns first-team honors after averaging 11.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and a GSC-best 2.7 blocks per game, which is 13th nationally in the latest NCAA D-II statistics. On the season, Cordeiro has scored in double figures in 16 games, including three 20-plus point games and has had three double-doubles. He set a new single-game record for blocked shots twice during the regular season as he blocked a then-record seven shots against Ouachita Baptist on Jan. 22 and then blocked a new single-game record eight shots in Tech’s 86-81 overtime win over Delta State on Feb. 21. He leads the GSC in field goal percentage at 63.2 percent  and is also shooting 69.3 percent at the free throw line. He helped Tech qualify for the GSC Tournament for the second consecutive season and also win 19 games for the first time in the school’s Division II era.

Joining Henderson and Cordeiro on the All-GSC West Division First-Team is Kohs, Christian Brothers senior guard Reggie Peyton and Delta State junior guard Chad Akins.

The All-GSC West Division Second-Team consists of Ouachita Baptist senior guard Rowan Ledbetter, Harding’s duo of junior guard Trent Morgan and sophomore forward Kevin Brown and Delta State’s duo of senior forward Alton Robinson and junior guard Eric Spencer.

          Johnson is joined on the GSC East Division First-Team by Alabama-Huntsville junior center Cody Jones, Montevallo junior guard Freddy Little, Valdosta State junior forward Tyrone Curnell, West Alabama junior forward Jason Swanson and North Alabama senior forward Thomas Fraise.

          The All-GSC East Division Second Team is headlined by Montevallo junior forward Nate Flowers, Valdosta State junior guard Ricardo Lewis, West Florida senior center Charles Bouie and West Georgia’s twosome of senior guard Doug Dennis and junior forward John Pringle.

          Tech, who is 19-8 overall and 9-5 in the GSC, will return to action on Friday, March 6, when they face North Alabama (18-9 overall, 8-4 GSC) in the second of four quarterfinal games at the 2009 GSC Tournament. Tip-off is set for 2:45 p.m. at the DeSoto County Civic Center in Southaven, Miss. The game will mark just Tech’s fourth-ever GSC Tournament game and third in the last two seasons.

           Complete 2008-09 All-GSC Men's Basketball Teams

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