Index of Sports Press Releases

Mar. 5, 2008

Broughton Named GPAC Player-of-the-Year

GPAC Men’s Player-of-the-Year Preston Broughton

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Dakota Wesleyan University junior Preston Broughton was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year to headline the GPAC basketball All-Conference teams for 2007-08. Besides Broughton, DWU junior Colby Fitzgerald was also named to the All-GPAC First Team, and junior Scott Nelson was named All-GPAC Honorable Mention.

Broughton, a Corsica native, leads the Tigers in scoring (17.9 points per game) and rebounds (8.8 rebounds per game). He is currently third in the GPAC in scoring and second in rebounding. Broughton was named GPAC Player-of-the-Week twice during the season and had 16 double-doubles throughout the season.

Fitzgerald, a native of Dell Rapids, ranks second on the team in points (16.5 points per game). He is fifth in the GPAC in scoring and sixth in free-throw shooting percentage at 82.7 percent. Fitzgerald scored 20 or more points in 10 games this season and had a game-high 34 points against Doane College on Dec. 1.

Nelson, a native of Gillette, Wyo., averaged almost 10 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game. He scored in double figures in 16 games and had a game-high 25 points against Mount Marty College on Dec. 21.

This is the second year in a row that the GPAC Player-of-the-Year is from Dakota Wesleyan. Brock Seim was selected as the GPAC Player-of-the-Year for the 2006-07 season.

Jack Rother of Morningside College was voted the GPAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year, and Matt Malloy of the University of Sioux Falls was named GPAC Freshman-of-the-Year. Jim Sykes of Morningside was selected as the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach-of-the-Year.

The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the NAIA Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll and finished the 2007-08 season with a 24-8 overall record. Wesleyan finished third in the GPAC standings and received an at-large bid to the NAIA Division II National Tournament on March 12-18 in Point Lookout, Mo., at the College of Ozarks.