Waxahachie’s Grant tabbed WAC hoops Player of the Year

SPECIAL to KBEC Sports

ARLINGTON — Sam Houston senior Qua Grant has been named the Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

Grant, a 2018 Waxahachie graduate, was also a first-team All-WAC selection and named to the all-newcomer team. Senior guard Donte Powers was named second-team All-WAC, senior guard Javion May was named to the all-defensive team and sophomore forward Cameron Huefner was tabbed to the all-newcomer team as well.

Grant, a transfer from Wichita State and West Texas A&M, made an immediate impact for the Bearkats this season, guiding the team to a 24-6 record and a 14-4 WAC mark which secured the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. He leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game and averages 4.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

He leads the WAC in steals with 60 and was named the conference Player of the Week after he averaged 19 points and five rebounds in wins against California Baptist on Feb. 23 and Southern Utah on Feb. 25.

Powers has come into his own as a scoring threat this season for Sam Houston. He is second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points and is shooting 41.8 percent from both the field and 3-point range.

This is the second straight season May has been named to the WAC All-Defensive team. He is often tasked with guarding the opposing team’s top offensive perimeter player on a squad that ranks fourth in the country in scoring defense at 58.5 and fifth in field goal percent defense at 38.5, and he averages 3.9 points and leads the team in rebounding at 4.9 per game.

Huefner is the Bearkats’ third-leading scorer at 10.5 points per game. The Pittsburg State transfer is shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 45.1 percent from behind the arc this season.