Briggs Parris Named to All-MEC Second Team

*Story Provided by UVA-Wise Athletics

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Men’s basketball redshirt freshman Briggs Parris has been named to the 2019 All-Mountain East Conference Second Team. The league office made the announcement Tuesday afternoon following a vote of the league coaches.

The Boones Mill, Virginia product leads the Cavaliers in scoring with 16.2 points per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. From behind the arc, Parris’ 3.57 three-point field goals per game rank him third in the league and seventh in the nation in Division II.

Shooting 41.7 percent from downtown, the 6-foot-4 guard sits at fourth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage. His 100 made three-pointers this season also place him seventh in the country in total three-point field goals made.

This season, Parris posted his career-high 31 points in the Cavs first game of the season against Livingstone College. The Franklin County High School alum tied UVa-Wise men’s basketball individual single-season record for most three-point field goals made in the season opener (9) as he helped the Cavs to go on to tie the single-game record for most three-point field goals made (18). To date, Parris has scored in double-figures 25 times and tallied 454 total points.

Notre Dame’s Will Vorhees has been selected as the 2018-19 Mountain East Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, while West Liberty’s Will Yoakum (Freshman of the Year) and NDC’s Tim Koenig (Coach of the Year) also received top honors from the league. 

Vorhees, a senior from Lima, Ohio, averaged 28.9 points and 11.3 rebounds in his final season with the Falcons. The three-time first team All-MEC selection finished the regular season third in the country in scoring and seventh in rebounds. He scored more than 20 points a league-best 23 times and his 20 double-doubles are second-best in the NCAA. Vorhees, a four-time MEC Player of the Week and a three-time USBWA National Player of the Week, became the first player in MEC history to record over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for his career. He’s the leading active scorer in NCAA Division II.

Yoakum, a native of Delaware, Ohio, contributed 14.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and started all 27 games for the Hilltoppers this season. He is the second-leading scorer for a West Liberty squad that leads the nation in scoring. He ranks in the top 10 in the league in field goal percentage (7th, 54.9) and free throw percentage (8th, 84.3), 

Koenig earns his first MEC Coach of the Year honors after leading Notre Dame to a 20-8 record and a 16-6 mark in conference play. In just a season after the Falcons went 4-18 and missed the MEC Tournament, he guided NDC to its first 20-win regular season in program history and its highest finish in the MEC standings (fourth). 

Players from eight different institutions comprise the second team: Phil Bledsoe (Glenville State), Thomas Lang (Shepherd), Malik Jacobs (Urbana), Lamont McManus (Charleston), Briggs Parris (UVa-Wise), Jair Rodgers (Concord), Gus Stone (W.Va. State), Will Yoakum (West Liberty).