The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net PRIMED to make his senior season his best yet, one Bahamian collegiate basketball player continues to post productive numbers and become a catalyst for his team's winning turnaround. Jay Phillipe helped lead the Webber International University Warriors over .500 to a 6-5 record with a 62-57 win over McKendree University. Phillipe continued his recent hot shooting with 14 points off the bench, and chipped in with five rebounds and three assists. "The biggest thing that I have changed is my approach," he said. "I'm a senior, a point guard, a leader on the team and as a floor general I know a lot of what goes on will run through and ultimately come down to the decisions I make on the floor." Phillipe is averaging 8.3 points per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. "To get to that next level, I just knew I had to take it more seriously this year and really make my last year count," he said. "It started with my off the court approach. Showing leadership has to come everywhere, workouts, in practice and that's why I try to be the last person to leave the gym. "My long term goals for this year, number one on the list is the Conference Championship," he said. On December 17th, Philippe turned in his career high of 17 points, five assists, three rebounds and a steal in the Warriors' 79-76 victory over the Reinhardt University Eagles. Also experiencing success off the court, last year he was named a NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete. In order to be nominated by an institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status to qualify for this honour. "It meant a lot to me," Phillipe said. "It means a sense of achievement and that hard work in the class room is as equal or even more important than my work ethics in the hardwood." Over 100 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball student-athletes were named 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Phillipe made his mark during his high school career with the CC Sweeting Cobras and transferred to the Sunland Baptist Stingers just before his senior season. He began his collegiate career in 2007 with the Virginia Intermount College where he averaged eight points and three assists in his lone season with the Cobras.