RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist's Terry Coner Jr. was named the Great American Conference Freshman of the Year while Ricky Brown and Trevin Wade earned All-Conference Honorable Mention nods as the league announced its end-of-the-year awards on Wednesday.
It is the most Bison recognized by the GAC since the 2021-22 season and a match of the most selections in the program's Division II era. Furthermore, it is the first time an OBU player has garnered the league's Freshman of the Year trophy.
Coner, a 6-foot guard out of Birmingham, Ala., put on the most historic freshman season since OBU joined the NCAA in 2015-16. He scored 426 points in 27 games, the most of any rookie. The newcomer ended up leading the team in scoring (15.8) with a 42.9 field goal percentage as well. That scoring average was the fifth-best among NCAA freshmen, too.
During a Dec. 16 game versus East Central, he tallied 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting, the most points by a freshman in OBU's D2 era.
Brown received his first All-GAC honor after being one of the top three-point specialists in the league. The Valdosta, Ga., native recorded 83 triples, surpassing OBU's previous D2 record held by Jaquan Simms who tallied 77 during the 2019-20 campaign. Brown made 37.7 percent from deep, a mark that ranked 64th in the country and 17th in the GAC.
During the regular season, Brown scored as many as 25 points twice, and he made multiple three-pointers 23 times. Also of note, he ended the season making a three-pointer in 22 consecutive games. That passed Ethan Scott's 19-consecutive game effort as a freshman (2022-23).
Rounding out OBU's selections was Wade. He ranked fourth in the GAC in assists (4.3) and steals (1.9) per game. By season's end, Wade averaged 12.1 points and 4.3 rebounds. The Marietta, Ga., native scored as many as 21 points during the year and reached at least 10 points in 21 contests.
Wade also broke the program's DII single-season record for steals, racking up 49 by year's end. He eclipsed the mark (40) set by Burke Putnam during the 2021-22 campaign. On three separate occasions, Wade poked away six steals, including a school record of seven against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Jan. 21. He now owns the top two spots in the OBU record books for steals in a game.
Additionally, the guard flirted with a triple-double during the team's Jan. 4 matchup with Ouachita. In that affair, he scored 12, grabbed a season-high nine boards, and dished out seven assists.
