Press Releases

April 25, 2002
Southampton College's Senior Basketball Tandem Takes Top Honors

Jason Lewis and Curtis Small Named to All-Metro Team

Contact:
Darren Johnson (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

At their 69th annual banquet in New York City on Wednesday, April 24, the NIT/Met Basketball Writers Association awarded Southampton College men's basketball stars Jason Lewis and Curtis Small with first-team and second-team trophies.

The senior tandem led the Runnin' Colonials to an Eastern College Athletic Conference championship last month while putting up some of the best stats in the country. Southampton College hadn't had such men's basketball success in three decades, when the team featured all-time Colonial greats who later went on to pro careers. Now pro scouts are courting the College's latest dynamic duo.

"I have already received phone calls from teams in Australia, England, Greece and Turkey about Curtis and Jason," assistant coach Pete Quinn said, adding that there were numerous pro scouts following the duo at a recent all-star game. The two are expected to go to a professional combine this summer.

At Southampton College, Lewis and Small ended their tremendous careers in a tremendous way, each being named to the All ECAC Tournament Team. Small, who was also named MVP, set a tourney record with 46 points against powerhouse St. Rose in the finale. Lewis was later named to the NCAA's All Northeast team.

This was the first-ever ECAC Tournament championship for the Runnin' Colonials and their first title of any sort since 1972, when the team won the Northeast Championship in the NCAA Tournament and went on to the national final four.

The Runnin' Colonials will now graduate NYCAC all-stars Small and Lewis who ended the year Nos. 6 and 18 in the nation in scoring in NCAA Division II with 23 and 20.9 points per game respectively. Small (1668 career points) led the nation, in all three divisions, in free-throw percentage, hitting an amazing 94 percent of his foul shots. Lewis (1732 career points, 963 career rebounds) averaged a double-double on the year, including 10.2 rebounds per game, which placed him at No. 17 in the nation. Lewis and Small are the best scoring duo in College history, ranking third and fourth all-time.

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