Flaggs, Riggs Headline SIAC Sports Unlimited.com All-Conference Basketball Teams

Flawaan Flaggs of Miles College and Takesha Riggs of Fort Valley State University were chosen men and women’s Player of the Year in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, respectively, and headline the inaugural All-Conference selections by SIAC Sports Unlimited.com.

The selection panel includes SIAC sports information directors and selected media members throughout the south region. A first and second team – each consisting of three frontcourt and three backcourt players – was selected for both men and women. There were also picks for Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, awards won by Clark Atlanta University’s Najee’ Lane and Ashley Orphey of Miles College.

Flaggs, a 6-foot-1 junior from Jackson, Miss., led the SIAC in scoring at 20 points per game, which was 19^th in the nation at the end of the regular season. He was second in the league with 77 3-point field goals, averaged 2.8 rebounds and more than a steal a game while shooting 76 percent from the free throw line.

Joining Flaggs on the first team by Kenney Boyd of Morehouse; Kenny Jones of Kentucky State; Rassul Buulu and Maurice Mickens of LeMoyne-Owen; and Charles Gibbs of Benedict, which won the league’s regular season crown. The second team consists of Benedict’s Martinis Woody and Bennie Lewis; Fort Valley State’s Martez Scott and Desmond Williams; Tuskegee’s Keith Flournoy; and Paine’s Julian English.

Riggs stellar season coincided with Fort Valley State grabbing the second seed in this week’s conference tournament. The 5-foot-8 sophomore from Homestead, Fla., led the league and tied for 20^th in the country with her 19.3 point-per-game scoring average. She also averaged more than five rebounds, two assists and two steals per contest.

Also on the women’s first team were Crystal Benton of regular season champion Tuskegee; Bianca Burton and Sylbrena Johnson of Stillman; Shantrell Moss of Clark Atlanta; and Savoyia Barrett of Paine. On the second team were Kentucky State’s Mattie Jones and Latrice Watkins; Albany State’s Nikia Trice; Tuskegee’s Aisha Johnson; Paine’s Lakeisha Ball; and LeMoyne-Owen’s Shadonna Tate.

Lane was 12^th in the conference in scoring (13.1), second in free throw shooting (85 percent) and seventh in steals (1.78). Orphey averaged 7.7 points and 3.3 rebounds for Miles but was top-20 nationally with 3.14 steals while also finishing fourth in the league in assists (4.24) during the regular season.

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