Albert, Bjelicic earns SSAC All-Conference honors

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern States Athletic Conference announced its Men's Basketball Postseason Awards Wednesday evening, naming Braelee Albert to the SSAC All-Conference Second Team and Kosta Bjelicic to the All-Freshman team. In total, Loyola had 11 honored between athletic, academic and champions of character awards. 

Albert, Brody Adams, Cayden Branch, Dominic Brown, Milan Mejia, Schuyler Pimentel, Evan Savoy, Troy Thomas and Oliver Weiss made the SSAC All-Academic Team, and Leonard Jackson was the Wolf Pack's representative on the SSAC Champions of Character Award. 

In his second season with the Wolf Pack, Albert averaged 11.5 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds in 18 games, starting in 15 contests. The graduate student posted a season-high of 23 points in a win against the Southeastern Fire on Nov. 26 in the Battle at the Beach. In Loyola's 1,000th all-time win, Albert recorded the second double-double of his Wolf Pack career, logging 15 points and 10 rebounds in a victory at Dillard (La.).

Loyola's newest SSAC All-Freshman team member had a strong debut year with the Maroon and Gold, averaging 10.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Bjelicic scored a season-high 22 points in Loyola's home victory over Dalton State (Ga.) on Feb. 15. The Belgrade, Serbia, native eclipsed the 20-point mark three times during his freshman season with all coming within the Wolf Pack's last six contests. In 24 games and seven starts with Loyola, the freshman has reached the double-digit mark in points in 14 contests. Shooting 55 percent from the floor in his first year, Bjelicic also recorded his first career double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Mobile (Ala.) on Feb. 13.

It's the third year in a row Loyola has had a student-athlete on the SSAC All-Freshman Team. 

SSAC Men's Basketball Postseason Awards

Coach of the Year: Alex Ireland, Dalton State (Ga.)
Player of the Year: Chaze Harris, Life (Ga.)
Defensive Player OTY: Omarion Smith, Dalton State (Ga.)
6th Man of the Year: Dara Olonade, Life (Ga.)
Newcomer of the Year: Chaze Harris, Life (Ga.)
Freshman of the Year: Tommy Tisdale, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)
Sportsmanship Award: Mobile (Ala.)    
        

First-Team All-Conference        
Chaze Harris, Life (Ga.)    
Matt Compas, Dalton State (Ga.)    
Ezra McKenna, Mobile (Ala.)    
Dylan Brumfield, William Carey (Miss.)    
Antonio Lewis, Dalton State (Ga.)    
Jonathan Garcia, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Cortez Johnson, Life (Ga.)    
Milique Smith, Middle Georgia State    
Zaiden Cross, UT Southern    
Cam Brown, William Carey (Miss.)    
        

Second-Team All-Conference        
Qualen Pettus, Dalton State (Ga.)    
Dre Burroughs, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
Trent Moye, Mobile (Ala.)    
Braelee Albert, Loyola (La.)    
KJ Rogers, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Tyreke Johnson, Life (Ga.)    
Jason Hunt, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Jailin Lee, Thomas (Ga.)    
Nick Cham, Middle Georgia State    
Vito Vujovic, UT Southern    
        

All-Freshman Team        
Kosta Bjelicic, Loyola (La.)    
Tommy Tisdale, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
Matthew Mariena, ABAC    
Terhan Smith, ABAC    
Zion Hunter, Mobile (Ala.)    
Kaiden Francis, Mobile (Ala.)    
        

Barnes & Noble College All-Academic Team        
Brody Adams, Loyola (La.)    
Braelee Albert, Loyola (La.)    
Cayden Branch, Loyola (La.)    
Dominic Brown, Loyola (La.)    
Milan Mejia, Loyola (La.)    
Schuyler Pimentel, Loyola (La.)    
Evan Savoy, Loyola (La.)    
Troy Thomas, Loyola (La.)    
Oliver Weiss, Loyola (La.)    
Victor Muñoz, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Jeffrey Selden, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Nicolas Tingling, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Maliek Sadler, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Jonathan Garcia, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Jerome Thomas, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Oskar Guziak, Life (Ga.)    
Srjdan Poppovich, Life (Ga.)    
Elias Ramirez, Life (Ga.)    
Sam Rees, Point (Ga.)    
Jeremiah Smith, Point (Ga.)    
Ricky Ortiz, Point (Ga.)    
Kenton Steele, Point (Ga.)    
Mike Evans, Point (Ga.)    
Tanner Higgins, Point (Ga.)    
Devontae Sinclair, Point (Ga.)    
Michael Bell, UT Southern    
Ryan Dunn, UT Southern    
John Harper, UT Southern    
Vito Vujovic, UT Southern    
Grayson Cannon, Mobile (Ala.)    
Tadeas Manas, Mobile (Ala.)    
Ezra McKenna, Mobile (Ala.)    
Trenton Moye, Mobile (Ala.)    
Liam Patterson, Mobile (Ala.)    
Keon Walker, Mobile (Ala.)    
Marko Mihajlovic, Thomas (Ga.)    
Leo Lin, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Jacob Hamblin, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Bryan Maxey, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Israel Momodu, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Jules Teboul, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.)    
Chase Lawrence, Middle Georgia State    
Shane Nealis, Middle Georgia State    
Andrew Prestwood, Middle Georgia State    
Kyoya Sasaki, Dalton State (Ga.)    
Zsolt Boros, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
Quandre Burroughs, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
Dane Fisher, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
        

Champions of Character Team        
Leo Lin, Blue Mountain (Miss.)    
Tommy Tisdale III, Brewton-Parker (Ga.)    
Kevin Henry, Dalton State (Ga.)    
Jonathan Garcia, Faulkner (Ala.)    
Tyreke Johnson, Life (Ga.)    
Leonard Jackson, Loyola (La.)    
David Ganious, Middle Georgia State    
Tadeas Manas, Mobile (Ala.)    
Ricky Ortiz, Point (Ga.)    
Noah Lattin, Thomas (Ga.)    
Tyler Dudley, UT Southern    
Ankerion Gross, William Carey (Miss.)    
Tehran Smith, ABAC    
 

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