Two W&L Men's Basketball Players Honored by ODAC

SALEM, Va -- The Old Dominion Athletic Conference announced its men’s basketball postseason awards on Thursday and a pair of Generals were honored as senior forward Ben Heller (Houston, Texas/Lamar) was chosen as the ODAC/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete and junior forward Zac White (Baltimore, Md./Park School) was an honorable mention All-ODAC selection.

Heller, who leads W&L with 10.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, returned from a shoulder injury which limited him to just 12 games a year ago to play in all 26 games this season. Heller has scored in double-figures on 13 occasions, including a career-high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting in a 67-66 overtime loss to Bridgewater. In the Generals 84-81 overtime win over Emory & Henry in the ODAC play-in round, Heller scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for his first career double-double. Heller is Washington and Lee’s first men’s basketball player to be honored as the ODAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

White, the team’s third-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game, as well as the team’s second-leading rebounder at 4.7 rebounds per game, has appeared in all 26 games this season and has started 19 of them. White broke the 20-point threshold on two occasions, notching a season-high 22 points in an 85-74 win over Eastern Mennonite and again scoring 22 points, including the game-winng jumper with 1.7 seconds in remaining, in W&L 68-66 win over then-No.18 Roanoke. White also leads the Generals with 30 blocks (1.2 bpg), including a career-high six in W&L’s 76-74 victory over Washington College. His .828 (72-87) mark from the free throw line is good for second in the league.

Randolph-Macon senior guard Justin Short was selected as the ODAC Player of the Year, Randolph first-year forward Derrick Woods-Morrow was tabbed as the league’s Rookie of the Year and Guilford head coach Tom Palombo was selected as the Coach of the Year.

Washington and Lee, the tournament’s eighth seed, will take on top-seeded Guilford in the quarterfinals of the ODAC Tournament on Friday at 1:00 pm at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.

--GENERALS--