Kamryn Williams takes home top award at Air Force men's basketball banquet
4/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Air Force senior Kamryn Williams was awarded the Bob Spear Award, the top individual award for the team, at the 2014-15 Air Force Men's Basketball Banquet Saturday night at the Colorado Springs Marriott. The Bob Spear Award goes to the cadet that is best in athletics, academics and military performance.
Williams is a two-year team captain and was the team's third-leading scorer and top rebounder this season before being injured in the conference opener at San Diego State and missing the rest of the season due to surgery. Williams averaged 9.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He finished his career with 554 points and 364 rebounds which ranks first among active players on this year's team.
Senior Marek Olesinski earned the Bob Beckel Most Valuable Player Award, given annual to the team's overall most valuable player. Olesinski was the only Falcon to start all 31 games and was second on the team in scoring with a 9.9 average and second in rebounding with a 4.7 norm. He led the team in field goal percentage with a 50.5 mark and was among the league leaders in 3-point field goal percentage with a 39.1 mark.
Sophomore Zach Kocur earned two major awards, taking home the Cliff Parsons Falcon Award, given annually to the player that shows the most leadership and hustle during the season. He also shared the Jack Braley Iron Bolt Award with fellow sophomore Kyle Broekhuis.
Kocur was fourth on the team in scoring with an 8.7 mark while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and a team-best 47.5 percent from 3-point range. Kocur scored in double figures in six of his last nine games and led the Falcons with a 16.5 per-game average in the Mountain West tournament. Broekhuis rebounded this season after missing all of 2013-14 due to injury. He played in nine games, but consistently provided a hard-work mentality and effort on and off the court all season.
Sophomore Hayden Graham earned the team's Tim Harris Most Improved Player Award. Graham averaged 7.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game this season while starting 19 of 30 games. Graham posted a team-best three double-double performances, including becoming the first Falcon since Tom Bellairs in 2000-01 to have back-to-back double-doubles.
Seniors DeLovell Earls and Justin Hammonds shared the Rob Marr Sportsmanship Award. The two seniors battled and overcame injuries throughout the season to provide leadership to a team that ended up being comprised mostly of underclassmen in key roles.
Other awards handed out included the Ray Dudley Leading Scorer Award, earned by senior Max Yon who led the team in scoring with a 12.4 average; the Reggie Jones Leading Rebounder Award, earned by senior Marek Olesinski while grabbing an average of 4.7 rebounds per game and the Jeff Bowling Assist Leader Award which went to freshman Trevor Lyons, who had a team-best 68 assists.
Air Force 14-17 overall this season and finished ninth in the conference with a 6-12 record. The Falcons knocked off New Mexico in the first round of the Mountain West tournament before falling to conference co-champion Boise State in the quarterfinals.
