Lee University senior guard Will Barnes was honored by the The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) when he was named first-team 2012 – 13 Division I Men’s Basketball All-American on Wednesday.
The selections are made by the NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Association All-America Committee and comprises a First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention Team. There are 10 members on each of the first three All-America teams.
Barnes averaged 20 points per game for coach Tommy Brown's 29-4 club that earned a share of the SSAC regular-season title and advanced to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. Barnes shot over 50 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the 3-point line. He also made 78 percent of his free throws.
Jamorris Gaines, who joined the Lee team at the semester break, was listed on the third team. Gaines averaged almost 15 points and five rebounds per game. He shot 48 percent overall and 42 percent from 3-point range.
As part of the national championship title run, Georgetown’s (Ky.) Vic Moses earned the NABC-Division I Men’s Basketball National Player of the Year. He is the first Tiger to win the award since the awards program started in 1994. The forward from Lexington, Ky., led the NAIA in field goal percentage (.669), was third in rebounding (9.7), 30th in blocks per game (1.16) and 31st in scoring (17.1). His 18 season double-doubles was one shy of the NAIA individual best. He rattled through the national championship with 17.0 points and 13.6 rebounds while shooting 56 percent. Moses was a 2011 NAIA Second Team All-American.
Chris Briggs of Georgetown (Ky.) was named the 2012 – 13 Rawlings-NAIA National Coach of the Year. He led the Tigers to their second national championship in school history and first since 1998. During a 28-8 campaign, Briggs had the program rank in the NAIA’s top 10 in numerous statistical categories, including second in blocks per game (4.6) and rebounding margin (+10.0), sixth in scoring offense (84.4) and field goal percentage (.491) . He wrapped up his second season as head coach with a 54-17 record.
Briggs is the third Georgetown coach since the awards were given in 1954, joining Bob Davis (1959) and Jim Reid (1994 and 1996).