THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls State University senior guard Fred Hunter was named first team All-Southland Conference in a vote by the league coaches and sports information directors the league announced today, as he finished the regular season leading the Southland in scoring averaging 19.8 points per game and 20.8 average in league competition.

Along with earning first team league honors, the Denton, Texas native was also placed on the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Men's All-District team as one of the ten honorees and only Southland Conference player to be selected in District VII. On Monday, he earned the final LSWA Men's Basketball Player of the Week award, claiming the honor for the second time this season.

Hunter is the first player since Anatoly Bose in the 2010-11 season to earn first team all-conference honors, becoming just the tenth player in Nicholls history to rank among the top five players in the conference at the end of the season. In his first season as a Colonel in 2008, he was named the conference's freshman of the year and will end his career with a first-team selection after averaging career highs in points and rebounds.

After sitting out all of last season to rehab a torn ACL, Hunter was a catalyst for the squad producing four 30-point games and 15 20-point games which led the league, while leading the team in scoring 18 times and in rebounding 19 times. During that span he also had nine double-doubles on the year which was third-most in the league behind ORU's Damen Bell-Holter and SFA's Taylor Smith.

Nicholls will open up the 2013 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament against McNeese State at 5 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas on Wednesday.

2013 Men's Basketball All-Southland Conference Teams

First Team	School	Pos.	Cl.	Hometown
Taylor Smith	Stephen F. Austin	F	Sr.	Schertz, Texas
Damen Bell-Holter	Oral Roberts	F/C	Sr.	Hydaburg, Alaska
Fred Hunter	Nicholls	G	Sr.	Denton, Texas
Warren Niles	Oral Roberts	G	Sr.	Cincinnati, Ohio
Brandon Fortenberry2	Southeastern Louisiana	G	Sr.	Picayune, Miss.

2012-13 USBWA All-District Teams
DISTRICT VII (TX, AR, LA)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Pierre Jackson, Baylor
COACH OF THE YEAR: Michael White, Louisiana Tech

ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Isaiah Austin, Baylor
Fred Hunter, Nicholls
Pierre Jackson, Baylor
Johnny O'Bryant III, LSU
Marshawn Powell, Arkansas
Taylor Smith, Stephen F. Austin
TaShawn Taylor, Houston
Elston Turner, Texas A&M
B.J. Young, Arkansas
Joseph Young, Houston