March 9, 2004

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Lewis University senior forward Monta McGhee has been named Great Lakes Valley Conference men's basketball Player of the Year, and Flyer senior guard Demitrius Hunter has joined his teammate on the All-GLVC first team.

McGhee also was selected to the Daktronics All-Great Lakes Region first team by the region's sports information directors and to the GLVC all-tournament team. He is the Flyers' third GLVC Player of the Year, joining Tom Niego (1986) and Larry Tucker (1982).

Lewis head coach Jim Whitesell, who guided the Flyers to their first GLVC title since 1988 and an NCAA Division II national tournament berth for a fifth time in seven seasons, was voted GLVC Coach of the Year. Whitesell joins Chuck Schwarz (1982 and 1985) as the only Flyer mentors to garner accolades as the league's top coach.

McGhee has scored 1,083 points in his two-year career, ranking him 26th on the Flyers' all-time scoring list. He is a repeat selection to the All-GLVC and Daktronics first teams.

McGhee leads Lewis in scoring (19.2 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), steals (1.47 spg), field goals made (204), free throws made (139) and minutes played (985). He stands fourth in scoring, second in rebounding, fourth in offensive rebounding (2.8 rpg), eighth in steals and 11th in free throw percentage (.781) in this week's GLVC statistical rankings.

Hunter, an All-GLVC honorable-mention choice last year, holds Lewis' career assists record of 525 and ranks 23rd on the Flyers' all-time scoring list with 1,119 points. He will set a Lewis career record of 121 games played when the Flyers host Wayne State Saturday in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional quarterfinals.

Hunter leads the Flyers in assists (3.93 apg) and is second in scoring (11.9 ppg), field goal percentage (.539), field goals made (123), free throws made (85), 3-point field goal percentage (.375), blocked shots (0.63 bpg) and minutes played (969). He and McGhee are the only two players to start all 30 Lewis games.

Hunter is 20th in scoring, 11th in field goal percentage, eighth in assists and ninth in assist-turnover ratio (1.51:1) in this week's GLVC statistical rankings.

Now in his 12th season at Lewis, Whitesell owns a 214-125 record (.631) at the Flyer controls. The Flyers have enjoyed the most successful three-year stretch in program history, winning 25 games two seasons ago and 23 games last year to go with this season's 24 victories (24-6). Lewis is 72-21 (.774) overall and 45-15 (.750) in the GLVC during that period.

Lewis will host the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championship March 13-16 at Neil Carey Arena on the University's main campus in Romeoville. The top-seeded Flyers take on eighth-seeded Wayne State Saturday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

3/9/04