Paulson First Panther to Take Home Top Award

The 2019 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, as selected by the league coaches, is Principia College senior Micah Paulson. He becomes the first Panther in program history to receive the conference's top individual award. 

Paulson, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., has been one the top scorers in the league since arriving three years ago but this year he upped his game; leading the league with a 26.3 points per game average during conference play. He finished 2nd in the league in both field goals made and three-point field goals made and 5th in free throws made. His overall scoring average this season of 26.6 points per game ranked 5th in conference history and he concluded his Panther career as the program's career scoring leader with 1,579 points. Paulson scored in double figures in every game this season with seven 30 point games including a high of 44 points.

The 2019 SLIAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year is Chris Bunch, head coach of Webster University. This season the Gorloks finished conference play with a 15-3 record, securing their first outright regular-season conference title since 2012. The Gorloks locked up the top seed in the tournament and were 19-6 overall in the regular season, their most wins since the 2013-14 year.

This year's Newcomer of the Year is Logan Dorethy, a freshman from MacMurray College. A post player from Hamilton, Ill., Dorethy averaged 17.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in conference action, upping his output by nearly two points against non-conference opponents. He ranked 5th in the SLIAC in field goal percentage and closed out his season with 11 consecutive double-digit scoring performances. He is the 5th Highlander in program history to take home the award and the first since MacMurray won three straight from 2010-12.

The SLIAC also honored MacMurray College with the SLIAC Team Sportsmanship award; which is given to the program that best exemplifies sportsmanship throughout the season.