Soles and Hood Garner All-AAC Acclaim

February 27, 2008

Bristol, Tenn. – UVa-Wise men’s basketball saw two of its players, Jarred Soles and Adam Hood, earn All-Appalachian Athletic Conference acclaim announced today. Soles made his second appearance in two years on the All-AAC second team while Hood was selected on the AAC All-Freshman squad.

Soles, a senior from Yorktown, Va., was the Highland Cavaliers (14-18) leader throughout his final season on and off the court. The lanky guard scored over 400 points for the third-straight year and capped his career with 1,643 points, fifth on the school’s all-time list. Soles downed 250 career three-pointers, handed out 222 assists and stole 86 passes.

For the second season in a row, Soles led the Cavs in scoring at 14.0 points per game. He hit 38.8% (66 of 170) of his long-range attempts while placing second in steals (26) and third in assists (68). He pumped in his career-high of 33 points against AAC champion King College.

Consistently a big scoring threat off the bench, Hood made his mark in his first season at UVa-Wise to make the AAC All-Freshmen team. The Rye Cove, Va. native averaged 10.3 points and hit 57 triples on the year. His top performance came at home against Alice Lloyd College with 21 points. Hood added 46 assists and 21 steals to cap his inaugural year.

Soles was joined by three other Cavs’ players, Joey Blackwell, Pance Kecev and Travis Brannon, on the Academic All-AAC list. Blackwell (Kingsport, Tenn.) was the team’s assist leader from the point for the third year with 93 while averaging 3.6 points.

Kecev (Nickelsville, Va.) was third on the squad in scoring at 9.3 points per affair. He also hit a solid 39.3% (70 of 178) of his three-point attempts.

Brannon (Glade Spring, Va.) was a quality backup forward. He chipped in 3.3 points and grabbed 3.6 boards per contest.