March 28, 2006
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech basketball senior Theodis Tarver was presented with the Michael Isenhour Inspirational Award, recognizing the center’s overcoming a significant injury and the passing of his mother, while Mario West and Ra’Sean Dickey took the other top honors at Tuesday night’s year-end banquet at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.
Tech’s only senior in 2005-06, the Monroe, La., native dealt with a serious knee injury as a sophomore which forced him to miss half of the Yellow Jackets’ Final Four season, and lost his mother, Carol, in May before his senior year. Tarver then overcame a one-game absence due to academic problems this season to complete a career in which the Tech won 75 games and played in the post-season three times.
The award is named for the late Michael Isenhour, who played at Tech under both Bobby Cremins and Paul Hewitt before succumbing to leukemia in 2003.
West, a junior from Douglasville, Ga., who has been a productive reserve and part-time starter for three seasons since joining the team as a walk-on in 2002, was presented with the team’s Student-Athlete Award. A frequent member of the Dean’s List, West also makes time to visit to patients at Egleston Children’s Hospital and will graduate in four years this May with a bachelor’s degree in Management.
Dickey, a sophomore from Clio, S.C., was presented with the team’s Most Improved Award after he boosted his scoring average from 10.6 points a game to 13.2 over Tech’s final 13 games. The 6-9 center finished second in the ACC in field goal percentage (59.7) and led the conference in that category (60.4 pct.) for ACC games only.
Anthony Morrow, a sophomore guard from Charlotte, N.C., was honored as the team’s leading scorer, averaging 16.0 points a game this season while leading the ACC in three-point percentage (42.9 pct.). Jeremis Smith, a sophomore forward from Fort Worth, Texas, was recognized for leading the Yellow Jackets in rebounding, taking 8.2 per game to rank fifth in the ACC.
