Men’s Basketball: Echols, Allmon named All-GSAC

Vanguard University senior Jaamon Echols and junior Zach Allmon represent the Lions on the All-Golden State Athletic Conference team for men’s basketball.

Echols, a 5-foot-11 guard who transferred from Western Washington for his only season at Vanguard, averaged 21.3 points in the regular season, which ranks No. 9 in the NAIA. Echols averaged 3.9 assists and 2.8 rebounds to help the Lions finish the regular-season 18-10, 7-9 in conference.

Allmon, who had 11 double-doubles, tied for No. 12 in NAIA Division I, averaged 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. The 6-8 forward, who began his collegiate career at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, had 44 steals and 23 blocked shots while shooting 51.5% from the field.

Vanguard is the No. 6 seed in the GSAC Tournament that begins Friday at Hope International University in Fullerton. Coach Rhett Soliday’s Lions face No. 3-seeded William Jessup in a first-round game at 2:30 p.m.

If victorious, Vanguard would advance to face No. 2-seeded Hope International in the semifinals on Saturday at 2:30 at HIU.

The men’s title game is scheduled Tuesday at 8 p.m. at HIU.

Biola junior Dakari Archer is the Player of the Year, while Hope senior Garrett Neilan is the Defensive Player of the Year.

Biola’s Dave Holmquist is the Coach of the Year.

— Barry Faulkner