DelVal Basketball Player Featured in SI

Delaware Valley College senior guard James Jones appears in the “Faces In The Crowd” section in the April 11 edition of Sports Illustrated.

The issue already has arrived in subscribers’ mailboxes and hits newsstands Thursday, April 7. It will also be available for viewing online Thursday morning at www.si.com/faces.

It was a storybook season for Jones as he led to its first-ever Freedom Conference championship and NCAA Division III tournament berth. The Aggies were 3-22 overall and 0-14 in conference play just three years ago before Jones transferred in from Widener University.

Jones averaged 20.9 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds per contest and reached double figures in scoring in all but two of the 28 games. He hit the 20-point plateau 15 times and had five performances of 30 or more points. Jones set school single-season records for points (586) and free throws (189) and also set a NCAA Division III record by connecting on 66 consecutive free throws in one year.

Jones became the first player in program history to earn conference player of the year and All-America honors. In fact, he received eight overall postseason awards:

• Freedom Conference Player of the Year
• All-Freedom Conference First Team
• Freedom Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player
• ECAC South First Team All-Star
• National Association of Basketball Coaches First Team All-Middle Atlantic Region
• D3hoops.com First Team All-Middle Atlantic Region
• DIII News Fourth Team All-American
• D3hoops.com Honorable Mention All-American

Jones wrapped up his three-year Aggie career with 1,526 points and the fourth spot on the all-time list. He broke the career record for free throws made with 432 and also finished third in assists (329) and eighth in steals (121).

Delaware Valley finished the 2010-11 campaign with a 17-11 record. The Aggies were the top seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs and they captured the title with a 79-58 triumph over two-time defending champion DeSales University. Delaware Valley then dropped a decision to 10th-ranked Virginia Wesleyan College in the first round NCAA tournament.