BOSTON, Mass. — William & Mary senior men’s basketball player Marcus Thornton was selected as a finalist for the Lou Henson Award given to the top Mid-Major player in College Basketball, CollegeInsider.com announced on Thursday.
Thornton was one of 31 finalists for the honor and as a result was named to the Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America Team.
The award is named in honor of Henson who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. Henson is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State. He is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.
The 2015 recipient will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet on April 3 in Indianapolis, site of the 2015 men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.
Thornton wrapped up his W&M career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and became the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Player of the Year in Tribe history.
He topped the oldest Division I school record in college basketball when he surpassed the late Chet Giermak, who held the record since in graduation in 1950, on Feb. 25. Thornton finished with 2,178 points, which also ranks seventh in CAA history. His 325 career 3-pointers are the Tribe program mark and the fourth most in CAA history.
This past season, Thornton became the first Tribe player since 2004 to average 20 points per game, ranking 16th nationally. His 659 points in 2014-15 were the second most in W&M history and the most since 1949. He knocked down a school-record 102 3-pointers and became just the sixth player in CAA history to reach the century mark in 3-pointers made. He closed out his career with 39 straight double-digit scoring games and scored in double figures in 110 of his 127 career games (86.6 percent).
Thornton tallied 20 or more points in 14 games this season, including a career-high 37 at Richmond in December and a CAA Tournament record 37 in the semifinals against Hofstra in March. He ranked 13th nationally in 3-pointers made, 36th in 3-point percentage (40.2) and 75th in free throw percentage (83.0).
Thornton earned First-Team All-CAA honors for the second straight season, just the second W&M player accomplish the feat, and is a three-time all-league pick. He was also named one of 16 national finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Fans can vote for Thornton in the College Court Report’s Mid-Major Player of the Year Bracket. In a tournament style 32-player draw, he advanced to the finals and faces East Tennessee State’s Jalen Riley.
The final vote runs through through Sunday at CollegeCourtReport.com, and the winner will be announced at 10 a.m. Monday. Click here to visit the College Court Report Web site and vote for Thornton.
2015 Lou Henson All-American Team
Lawrence Alexander – Sr. – North Dakota State
D.J. Balentine – Jr. – Evansville
John Brown – Jr. – High Point
Julius Brown – Sr. – Toledo
Jalen Cannon – Sr. – St. Francis Brooklyn
Karl Cochran – Sr. – Wofford
AJ English – Jr. – Iona
Kahlil Felder – So. – Oakland
Chris Fowler – Jr. – Central Michigan
Ty Greene – Sr. – USC Upstate
Tyler Harvey – So. – Eastern Washington
Corey Hawkins – Sr. – UC Davis
Tyler Haws – Sr. – BYU
R.J. Hunter – Jr. – Georgia State
John Jordan – Sr. – Texas A&M Corpus Christi
David Laury – Sr. – Iona
Shawn Long – Jr. – UL-Lafayette
Mikh McKinney – Sr. – Sacramento State
Justin Moss – Jr. – Buffalo
Mike Myers – Sr. – UMES
Saah Nimley – Sr. – Charleston Southern
Wesley Saunders – Sr. – Harvard
Justin Sears – Jr. – Yale
Keifer Sykes – Sr. – Green Bay
Marcus Thornton – Sr. – William & Mary
Corey Walden – Sr. – Eastern Kentucky
Brad Waldow – Sr. – Saint Mary’s
Thomas Walkup – Jr. – Stephen F. Austin
Jameel Warney – Jr. – Stony Brook
Jalan West – Jr. – Northwestern State
Alan Williams – Sr. – UC Santa Barbara
