Men's Basketball Release (03-04) - All-ODAC - Guilford College

Salem, VA (02/20/04) -- Guilford head coach Tom Palombo shared the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) Coach of the Year Award and the Quakers' Jevon Clarke (Apex, NC/Southeast Raleigh) earned second team all-league honors at the ODAC Tournament banquet Friday night at the Salem Civic Center. Guilford's Josh Connor (Greensboro, NC/Northwest Guilford), Clarence Martin (Reidsville, NC/Reidsville), and Thomas Swindell (High Point, NC/Southwest Guilford) received honorable-mention All-ODAC recognition. Nomination and selections were made by the league's 10 head men's basketball coaches.

Palombo, who shared the award with Emory & Henry's Bob Johnson, joins 2000-01 ODAC Co-Coach of the Year Butch Estes as Guilford's lone ODAC Coach of the Year honorees. Palombo came to Guilford from Defiance (OH) in July, 2003 after Estes took the head men's basketball post at Miami Dade College. He inherited 11 letter winners from Estes' 12-14 team and Guilford was picked sixth in the preseason ODAC Coaches' Poll. Guilford enters Saturday's ODAC Tournament with a 15-10 overall record, which matches the school's Division III standard for wins in a season. The Quakers finished in a three-way tie for third place in the league with a school-record 11 ODAC wins and triumphed over two top-20 teams (Catholic and Hampden-Sydney).

Palombo becomes the first person in ODAC history to win the league's men's and women's basketball Coach of the Year Awards. He received the women's prize in 1992 coaching his alma mater, Virginia Wesleyan. Palombo, who went 78-7 in three years as Defiance's women's basketball coach, has a 115-73 (.612) men's basketball coaching record in seven years and a 253-115 (.687) mark in 14 seasons overall. He earned the 1996 DIII News National Division III Women's Basketball Coach of the Year Award at Defiance.

Clarke (right), a 6-4 senior forward, joins three-time second-team pick Paul Ferrell '94 as Guilford's only players to earn All-ODAC honors more than once. Also a second-team honoree in 2002-03, Clarke tops Guilford in scoring (13.3 ppg.) and blocked shots (22). The Quakers are 10-1 when he leads the team in points. Clarke became Guilford's 20th player to score 1,000 career points February 11 and is 29 points shy of 19th place on the school's career scoring list. He received the ODAC Player of the Week Award for his play in three Guilford wins from February 2-8, including the team's first victory over Hampden-Sydney in 20 games.

Connor (left) ranks seventh in the league with a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game and is one of the club's top defenders. A second-team All-ODAC pick in 2001-02, the 6-3 senior forward averages 6.5 points and 2.6 assists per game. He has six contests with at least 10 boards, including a career-high 15-rebound effort in the Quakers' January 17 win at Eastern Mennonite.

Martin (right) earned honorable mention laurels for the second straight season. He stands second on the team in scoring (11.2) and averages 3.6 assists and 1.6 three-pointers per game, both team highs. Martin missed seven of Guilford's first eight tilts with an ankle injury suffered in the Quakers' season-opening upset of nationally ranked Catholic. With Martin sidelined, Guilford struggled to a 2-5 record. With the 5-8 point guard in the lineup, Guilford has won 13 of 18 games. His 1.48 assist-to-turnover ratio would rank fourth in the ODAC, if he met the minimum number of games requirement.

Swindell (left) returned to the Guilford's team after studying in Spain during the 2002-03 season. He ranks third on the squad in scoring (11.0 ppg.) and rebounding (5.1 rpg.). His .545 field-goal percentage stands second on the club and 10th in the conference. A team captain, he became Guilford's first Division III Academic All-District honoree Thursday. Swindell has 15 games with at least 10 points, including a career-high 19-point showing versus Hiram.

Guilford plays fourth-seeded Virginia Wesleyan Saturday (2/21) at 3:00 pm in the Salem Civic Center. The winner advances to Sunday's 1:00 pm semifinal contest against the winner of the ODAC quarterfinal between top-seeded Randolph-Macon and number-eight Lynchburg. The ODAC Tournament final is Monday (2/22) at 7:00 pm. The winner receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.