Patterson, NSA net honors
Published 9:51 pm Friday, February 27, 2015
The boys’ basketball coaches of the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools recognized the character of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s team and the ability of its top player when conference honors were awarded this year.
Nansemond-Suffolk Academy senior forward C.J. Patterson drew an all-conference second team honor, while he and the rest of the Saints received the TCIS Sportsmanship Award.
The Saints received the TCIS Sportsmanship Award, while senior forward C.J. Patterson made the All-TCIS second team.
The conference created the sportsmanship honor only a few years ago, and this is the NSA boys’ basketball team’s inaugural time receiving it.
“That just shows that we’ve got good kids, and whether winning or losing, we handled ourselves well on the court, so we were excited about winning that,” said Saints coach Chris Prince.
Nansemond-Suffolk Director of Boys’ Athletics T.W. Johnson was thrilled by the news.
“I think it speaks to the quality of the people we have in the program,” he said, citing Prince, assistant coach Dick Esleeck and the senior players through to the freshmen players.
“It’s a group that played hard all year, got to the tournament for the first time in recent memory and I think represented our school and our basketball program with class,” he said.
The Saints went 8-16 this season, seeing their run end in the quarterfinals of the TCIS tournament at the hands of nationally ranked Cape Henry Collegiate School, the No. 1 seed in the conference.
C.J. Patterson was key to NSA’s efforts this year, leading to his all-conference second team selection.
“I thought it was well-deserved, and he’s been our most versatile player all year, led us in scoring, rebounding, blocks, one of our better free throw shooters,” Prince said.
Patterson averaged 13 points and about seven rebounds per game.
There are an abundance of talented players in the TCIS, making the choices for first-team honorees equally profuse.
“Being second team in that conference is still an impressive feat,” Prince said.
Noting reasons Patterson may have stood out in the eyes of conference coaches, Prince said the senior played some pretty good games against notable TCIS opponents like Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School and Norfolk Collegiate School.
Patterson transferred to Nansemond-Suffolk in 2013, and the second-team honor was his first All-TCIS recognition for basketball.
