Senior Tre’Shaun Fletcher and junior guard Jaelan Sanford recently earned additional postseason honors, receiving all-district recognition by the National Basketball Coaches Association.
Fletcher was named First-Team All-District 14, while Sanford was selected to the second team.
Fletcher’s and Sanford’s honors mark the seventh straight year at least one Rocket has been included on the all-district squad.
The National Basketball Coaches Association divides the country into 25 districts and honors 10 players from each district, signifying a five-player first team and a five-player second team.
A 6-foot-7, 215-pound guard, Fletcher earned Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and first-team All-MAC accolades this past season after ranking third in the conference with 18.1 points per game and fourth with 8.0 rebounds per game and 4.3 assists per game. He is the only MAC player to rank in the top 10 in each category and registered the second triple-double in program history at Northern Illinois (Feb. 27) by tallying 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 11 assists. Fletcher paced the Rockets in points, assists, steals and rebounds on a team-high 28, 18, 15 and 13 occasions, respectively, and also produced a team-high 15 20-point outings.
Sanford, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard, earned All-MAC honors for the first time this season and ranked ninth in MAC scoring with 16.3 points per game and second on the team with 3.0 assists per game. Sanford also is listed among the league leaders with his 84.6 free-throw percentage (third), and his 40.3 three-point field-goal percentage (eigth). He performed even better in conference action with his league-best 88.2 free-throw mark, and a 43.6 three-point shooting clip that ranked eighth. Sanford scored 20 or more points in 11 contests this season, including a career-high 31-point showing vs. Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 11). He paced the Rockets in scoring on nine occasions and in assists in 10 contests.
Toledo (23-11) concluded its 2017-18 campaign March 10 with a 76-66 defeat to No. 1 Buffalo in the MAC Championship Game. The Rockets captured their third outright MAC West Division title with a 13-5 league record, finishing two games in front of second-place Eastern Michigan. In addition, UT’s 23 victories are tied for third most in school history.
