Coleman earned MEAC Rookie of the Week three times

RALEIGH, March 10, 2008 – The man that helped resurrect the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball program and the man who plans to keep the program on solid ground were honored Monday night at the 2008 MEAC Basketball Tournament Tip-Off Banquet.

Senior guard Steven Rush was named second-team All-MEAC by the MEAC head coaches and sports information directors. Thomas Coleman made the All-Rookie team.

“Steven Rush rescued this program when this program needed him most,’’ said head coach Jerry Eaves. “People forget before Steven got here we were winning five games here, six games there. His ability to hit perimeter shots made us a vastly different and much-improved program. We’ll always be grateful to Steve for that. He has been an easy player for Aggie fans to cheer for.”

Rush came to N.C. A&T after spending two seasons at UNC-Asheville. The Greensboro native who grew up watching Aggie basketball, earned first-team honors last season by knocking down a school-record 115 3-pointers as the Aggies sixth man. He helped the Aggies to their highest amount of wins in 10 seasons.

This season, he will likely lead the Aggies in scoring again and has hit 77 3-pointers so far this season. In a win over DePaul on Nov. 24, he broke his own school record for 3-pointers in a game by hitting 10 threes in what turned out to be the biggest win in school history in terms of DePaul’s RPI rating.

Nationally, Rush’s 10 threes rank as the second-highest amount of threes made in a game this season. Only IUPUI’s Gary Patterson had more with 11 against Southern Utah on Jan. 31. Rush averages 14.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and shoots 33.3 percent from 3-point range. His 192 made 3-pointers rank third all-time in school history.

“Even though I only had two years, my main goal was to bring A&T back to its glory days,’’ said Rush. “When it’s all said and done, I’ll be happy that I got a chance to come back home.”

Coleman hails from the same hometown as his head coach – Louisville, Ky. This season, Coleman has made his fellow Louisville native proud.

“He’s been tremendous for us this year,’’ said Eaves. “He gives us size and defensive presence we haven’t had here since I arrived. Once we get him stronger, there is not telling how well he will play in the MEAC.”

Coleman averages 6.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. His nine blocks against Coppin State earlier this season, broke a single-game school record. Coleman also shoots 65.2 percent from the floor.