ROCK HILL, S.C. – For a second straight year, senior center Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) has been named the South Atlantic Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, the league office announced Thursday afternoon.
Thomas earns the major award for a second consecutive season while also garnering third-team All-SAC accolades. He joins Emmanuel Terry (Lincoln Memorial) as the only players to win Defensive Player of the Year twice.
The Eagles' shot-stopper once again led the South Atlantic Conference with 2.23 blocks per game and 63 rejections this season.
Thomas finished his career with 194 rejections, the most by a wide margin in Carson-Newman history, and ranks eighth all-time in league history for career rejections.
His 63 blocks this year are the second-most in school history, second only to his 65-rejection season last year.
BT ����
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) January 30, 2022
@_b_smooth_ is @CN_Hoops new blocks king �� pic.twitter.com/ak4NsyeSRO
Thomas matched his own single-game record with six blocks against Mars Hill on Dec. 14. He closed out his carer with multiple rejections in 10 of his final 11 games as an Eagle.
He had five games this season with at least four rejections.
For his career, Thomas finished with 950 points after averaging a career-best 14.6 per game as a senior. He tallied 6.9 points per game to rank 13th and seventh in the SAC, respectively.
Thomas tallied double-digit scoring efforts in 22 games this season and five or more rebounds 20 times. He fired in a career-high 31 on the road in a win at Wingate when he sank 15-of-20 shots from the field.
That performance was one of six, 20-point scoring efforts on the year. Thomas entered the year with precisely one 20-point game in his previous three seasons at Carson-Newman.
He had six double-doubles on the year, including three that featured him scoring 20 points. He pulled that off during his career-high against Wingate, as well as in the Eagles' opener against Lees-McRae (28-10) and a 12-point home win over Mars Hill on Dec. 14 (27-11).
Thomas shot 56.4 percent from the field and made a career-best 155 shots this season.
Thomas also closes out his Carson-Newman career second all-time in total offensive rebounds (205). He also closes out his career ranking sixth in offensive rebound average (2.0), and sixth in total defensive rebounds (433).
Thomas earns all-conference honors from the league for the first time in his career.
