FORT WORTH, TX: The NAIA has released its 2010-11 Division I Men’s Basketball All-American team, and Texas Wesleyan University’s Brian Wanamaker and Jonathan Blake were among those honored.

 

Wanamaker and Blake become the nineteenth and twentieth players to earn the recognition at Texas Wesleyan. Wanamaker is just the third Ram to be named First Team All-American joining Clifton McNeely (1946-47) and Chris Berry (2008-09).

 

This season Wanamaker, a senior guard from Philadelphia, PA, ranked in the top-50 nationally in nine statistical categories. He ranked fifth in the nation with 652 points and .444 three-point shooting. On the year he averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. The Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Year set single-game TWU records this year in free throws made and attempted by hitting 20-of-22 at Our Lady of the Lake University and free throw percentage by hitting 16-of-16 against LSU-Shreveport. He scored in double-figures in all but one game and closed the season by averaging 24 points per game in his last 12 contests. In two seasons at Texas Wesleyan, he scored 1,046 points becoming the nineteenth member of Texas Wesleyan’s 1,000 Point Club and ranking seventeenth on TWU’s all-time scoring list.

 

Blake, a senior guard from Houston, TX, was an Honorable Mention All-American selection after averaging 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in his first season with the Rams. He reached double-figures in scoring 24 times in 33 games played. Blake posted eight double-doubles including a win over Texas College in which he scored a career-high 29 points while pulling down 13 rebounds.

 

The All-American team comprises a First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention team. There are ten members on each of the first three teams. Concordia University’s (CA) Justin Johnson was named NAIA Player of the Year after averaging 14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game. Pikeville College’s (KY) Kelly Wells was named Rawlings-NAIA Coach of the Year after leading his Bears to the 2011 National Championship.

 

The Rams went 30-4 this season, matching the highest win total in the 74-year history of Texas Wesleyan basketball (McNeely’s1946-47 team also finished at 30-4). They won the program’s fourth consecutive RRAC regular season championship with a league record of 21-1. In the last four years, Texas Wesleyan holds an overall record of 103-31 including an RRAC record of 65-11 and a home court record of 55-5.