Men's basketball trio earns All-SCIAC honors

ORANGE, Calif. – A trio of Chapman University men's basketball players have earned All-SCIAC honors for the 2014-15 season, as selected by the coaches. The conference co-champions had three seniors: Colin Zavrsnick, Taylor Hamasaki and Garrett James each honored for their play this year.

Zavrsnick and Hamasaki each earned First Team All-SCIAC after both ranked in the top-seven players in the conference in scoring average. Meanwhile, James earned the prestigious Ted Ducey Award for character and leadership, leading the conference in assists and turnover ratio.

Bringing an end to a remarkable four-year run, the dynamic backcourt duo of Zavrsnick and Hamasaki finished their careers with 1,399 and 1,362 points, respectively – both ranking among the top-10 in Chapman history in scoring. Zavrsnick averaged 18.6 points and led the SCIAC in three-pointers made and currently ranks in the top-20 in Division III in threes. He also finished third in the conference in steals and tied for fifth in blocked shots. He scored 20 or more points in a game 11 times this season, including a career-high 36 points in a game against Whittier on Jan. 3.

Hamasaki put up similar numbers, ranking seventh in the SCIAC with 16.6 points per game and scoring 20-plus on nine different occasions, including the same career-high of 36 points against Whittier (Feb. 27 in SCIAC semifinal game). He was also top-six in the SCIAC in free throw shooting and assists.

A leader on the floor and in the classroom (3.40 GPA), James was a natural selection for the Ducey Award, which exemplifies "ability, leadership, self-discipline, determination, sportsmanship and sincerity in academic pursuit." The senior point guard ranks third in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (3.44) and 15th in Division III with 5.5 assists per game. He set a Chapman (Division III) record with 149 assists this season, while averaging 6.1 points.

The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was established in 1915. The league is currently comprised of nine private colleges and universities in Southern California: California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, University of La Verne, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of Redlands, and Whittier College. The conference recognizes outstanding athletic achievements of its student-athletes on a weekly and annual basis.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Complete All-SCIAC listing: http://www.thesciac.org/sports/mbkb/2014-15/releases/all_conference

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