Will Gates Named All-Centennial
LANCASTER, Pa. - Freshman Will Gates of the Swarthmore College men's basketball team has been named to the 2009-10 All- Centennial Conference Team, the conference announced on Wednesday morning. Gates is a second-team selection.
Gates is just the ninth Swarthmore student-athlete to receive All-Centennial honors in men's basketball and is the first since Ian McCormick was named to the first team in 2008. He also becomes the first Swarthmore student-athlete to receive the honor as a freshman, while joining fellow second-teamer Jon Ward (Ursinus) as just the fifth and sixth freshmen in Centennial history to earn second-team honors.
The catalyst of the Garnet offense all season long, Gates led the team in scoring (16. 1 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg), free-throw shooting (82 percent) and three-point shooting (33.7 percent). Gates' numbers also placed him third in the Centennial Conference in scoring and fifth in rebounding.
Completing one of the best freshman campaigns in program history, Gates' 16.1 points-per game ranks as the second-best scoring averaging for a freshman in Centennial Conference history. He finished the season on fire, tying for the scoring lead in Garnet's final 15 games of the season.
Thanks in part to the play of Gates, Swarthmore more than doubled its win total from the 2008-09 season while upsetting Centennial Conference playoff teams Gettysburg and Ursinus. The win over Ursinus - the Garnet's first over the Bears since 1997 - was sparked by Gates' career-high 31 points.