Thorpe is NABC District Player of the Year, Brown First-Team All-Great Lakes

2013-14 D3hoops.com All-Region Team
2013-14 NABC All-District Team

Doug Thorpe has been selected as the National Association of Basketball Coaches NCAA Div. III Great Lakes District Player of the Year, and College of Wooster backcourt mate Xavier Brown joined him on both D3hoops.com's and NABC's All-Great Lakes First Teams. D3hoops.com announced its regional awards on Sunday night and the NABC released its winners Tuesday.

Thorpe is the fourth Fighting Scot to be named NABC Great Lakes District Player of the Year in the last 12 seasons, joining standouts Ian Franks (2009-10), Tom Port (2006-07), and Bryan Nelson (2002-03), and now in consideration for the Div. III Player-of-the-Year award.

A senior 5-9 guard who will play in the Reese's Div. III College All-Star Game Saturday at Salem, Va., Thorpe used a variety of offensive moves to average a career-high 14.3 points during the 2013-14 season. He made 73 3-pointers, ranking just outside the top-100 nationally at 2.43 per game, while his 84.3 percent shooting at the free throw line puts him 74th in that category. In addition, Thorpe increased his assists and steals averages to 2.6 and 0.9, respectively, while spending a team-high 31.3 minutes a night on the court.

Brown, a 5-11 junior guard, finished as Wooster's leading scorer at 14.7 points per outing, more than a point better than last year, thanks to career bests in field-goal percentage (.450), 3-point percentage (.448), and free throw percentage (.842). Also, he recorded a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (65:61) for the first time and served as the team's top defensive player on the perimeter, leading the way with 40 steals.

The duo helped guide Wooster to a 26-4 record, the program's 19th consecutive 20-win season, which is by far the longest active streak in Div. III. The Scots swept the North Coast Athletic Conference's regular season (16-2) and tournament championships, the fifth time they've done that the last eight years, then were upended by Dickinson College, 67-64, in the second round of the NCAA Div. III Championship. Wooster's four losses this season were by a combined 11 points.