PC’s Flagler named Big South’s top freshman

Presbyterian College men’s basketball player Adam Flagler was named the Big South Freshman of the Year Monday, marking the second time a PC player won the award.

DeSean Murray, who won the award in 2015, was the other.

Flagler’s award highlighted a day where five PC players were recognized by the conference in its annual postseason awards. Senior Davon Bell was named to the All-Big South Second Team, senior Francois Lewis was an honorable mention, Cory Hightower (along with Flagler) was named to the All-Freshman team, and J.C. Younger (junior) was picked for the all-academic team.

Flagler started every game this year and was named Freshman of the Week five times. He broke the program’s Division-I record for points by a freshman and leas the team in points per game. Flagler had 28 double-digit scoring games, including a season-high 29 at UCLA.

Bell had 15 double-digit scoring games and had a program Division-I record 15 assists against Winthrop. Bell also had three double-doubles this year.

Lewis recorded 21 double-digit scoring games, with nine of 20-plus points, and had a season-high 35 against St. Francis.

Hightower had 14 double-digit scoring games and led the team in rebounding 18 times. Hightower is in the top 10 in the Big South in rebounding, and had a season-best 12 boards against Longwood. His 19 blocks are also a team-high.

Younger, who was named to the all-academic team for the second year in a row, scored a career-high 30 points against VMI, and had nine 3-pointers in the same game to set the record for the most in a game since PC went to Division I.