EUGENE, Ore. – For the second year in a row, Northwest Christian University has swept the conference Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards.
 
Senior Jay Mayernik's steady work inside led the Beacons to their second straight CCC regular season championship and he was rewarded for his efforts with the Player of the Year award on a vote by the league's coaches.
 
The 12-person All-CCC team also included two of Mayernik's fellow Beacons – sharpshooting senior Jack Hackman and steady sophomore point guard Kenny Blackwell. In addition, fourth-year head coach Luke Jackson was named Coach of the Year for the second season in a row.
 
Consistency was key for Mayernik, whose 16 points per game ranked seventh in the CCC and 12.7 rebounds were tops in all of NAIA Division II. He was also among the league leaders in shooting percentage (59.4) and blocked shots (1.1) and he recorded 11 of his league-high and school-record 17 double-doubles during a stretch in which NCU won 15 games in a row and clinched its second consecutive title.
 
Mayernik had plenty of help from Blackwell, who contributed 13.3 points and 5.3 assists per night, and Hackman, who averaged 12.9 points and hit 81 three-pointers on 48-percent accuracy, the seventh-highest in the country.
 
NCU is headed back to the NAIA national championship for the third time in the last four seasons. They will learn their fate at 4:00 pm on Wednesday as to where they will be seeded and who they will play in the opening round of the tournament which begins in Point Lookout, Missouri one week from today.