Wright Named Defensive POW, Bartley top Newcomer

Louisiana Ragin' Cajun senior point guard Jay Wright has been named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, announced today by the league.

Junior Transfer Frank Bartley IV was named the league's Newcomer of the Year.

Wright and teammate Bryce Washington were named second team All-Conference, while Bartley was named to the third team.

Wright led the league in steals and finished in the top ten in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, assist/turnover ratio and minutes played.  He had eight games of 20 or more points.

Bartley was in the top ten in scoring, third in steals and and field goal percentage.  He finished 12th in the league in assists.

Kevin Hervey of UTA was named the league's Player of the Year, while UTA coach Scott Cross was named Coach of the Year.  D'Marcus Simonds of Georgia State was the Freshman of the Year.

Hervey was joined on the first team by Georgia Southern guard tandem Tookie Brown and Ike Smith, Texas State's Kavan Gilder-Tilbury and Troy forward Jordan Varnado.

Joining Wright and Washington on the second team were Arkansas State's Devin Carter, Georgia State's Jeremy Hollowell and UTA point guard Erick Neal.

Bartley was joined on the third team by Appalachian State's Ronshad Shabazz, Coastal Carolina's Jaylen Shaw, Georgia State freshman D'Marcus Simonds and Troy's Wesley Person.