RAMS EARN MORE HARDWARE
April 1, 2006

FORT WORTH, TX:  The Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team has continued to earn well deserved accolades since winning the program’s first ever NAIA National Championship.  The NAIA has announced its All-American team as well as the Daktronics-NAIA Men's Basketball All-America Scholar-Athletes, and the Rams had representatives on both lists.

Senior guard Ben Hunt followed his Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Year award by being named 2nd-team All-American.  In just two seasons, Hunt scored 1,183 points at Texas Wesleyan, ranking 13th in school history.  He also holds six school records.  He set the single season standard with 119 three-pointers this season and 90.8% free throw shooting.  He also tied the school’s single game record of 87.5% long range shooting (7-8 vs. Texas College).

Hunt’s career marks of 219 three’s, 47.6% long range shooting, and 90.7% free throw shooting are all Texas Wesleyan records.

In this year’s national tournament, Hunt had a career-defining game in the final against Oklahoma City, when he willed Texas Wesleyan to the title.  He scored a career-high 34 points on 11-19 shooting including 7-11 from long range while hitting all five free throws he attempted.  In that game he scored over half of the Rams’ points including 21-of- 31 points in the second half, and, of course, he hit the “shot heard ‘round the world,” a three-point bucket with 0.2 seconds remaining that delivered the national title.

Senior guard Khayri McKinney capped an outstanding two-year career with an Honorable Mention All-American selection.  McKinney set the school record with 48.1% three-point shooting last season, and his 45.1% long distance shooting in his career ranks second only to Hunt.

In his senior year, McKinney scored in double figures 23 times and poured in 20 or more nine times, including 20 points against Union University in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.

To be an All-American Scholar-Athlete, a student must maintain at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA while excelling on the basketball court.  Texas Wesleyan junior forward C.J. Higginbotham accomplished that outstanding feat this season.  Higginbotham had a breakout year, setting career highs in nearly every statistical category including points (103) and games played (28).  He recorded double figures in scoring four times including a career-high 16 points against LSU-Shreveport.