NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State senior forward/center
Ishmael Lane was the best Southland Conference basketball player this season.
That seemed to be a steady theme in pre-game and post-game comments by opposing coaches during the 18-game conference season. That impression was confirmed Thursday afternoon when Lane was the top vote-getter in balloting from league coaches conducted by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to select its All-District 23 team.
"I'm not surprised a bit," said Demons' head coach
Mike McConathy. "Ish was the focus of everybody's game plan and deservedly so."
District 23 is comprised exclusively of the 13 basketball programs in the Southland. Lane was joined on the NABC All-District 23 first team by Shannon Bogues and Kevon Harris of Stephen F. Austin, along with Josh Delaney of Sam Houston State and Marlain Veal from Southeastern Louisiana.
Second team picks were Cameron Delaney of Sam Houston, Josh Nzeakor from Lamar, Ezekiel Charles of New Orleans, Sam Houston's Kai Mitchell and Roydell Brown of McNeese.
Earlier this month, in voting that combined ballots from head coaches and sports information personnel from each conference school, Lane was named Southland Defensive Player of the Year and a repeat first-team All-Southland selection. He was the third-leading vote-getter in that selection, trailing Cameron Delaney and Veal.
Lane, a 6-8 senior forward/center from Port Allen, averaged a double-double in Southland contests, 15 points per game and a conference-leading 11.3 rebounds per game. He posted seven double-doubles in a row from Jan. 19-Feb. 9, a string that topped NCAA Division I at that time, and had 11 overall in 2018-19, 26 in his career.
He finished tied atop the league in blocked shots (69), including a conference-best eight stops against New Orleans on Feb. 6 when he nearly had the fifth triple-double in school history, posting 19 points and 15 rebounds, including a 16-foot jumper at the buzzer to force overtime.
It was one in a series of clutch plays he made in his senior season. His tip-in at the buzzer on Jan. 12 lifted NSU to a 61-59 road win over arch-rival Stephen F. Austin. He drained a clinching 3-pointer with nine seconds left in an early-season overtime victory over Alabama A&M and sank two free throws with 6.4 seconds left to lock up an 80-75 victory Feb. 2 at Central Arkansas.
Lane finished his Demon career matching his career single-game rebounding high, snatching 19 to go with 18 points and three blocks in a 70-63 loss to UCA in Prather Coliseum on March 9.
The 19 rebounds mirrored his total in a January meeting against regular-season champion Sam Houston State (scoring 19 as well). Those two performances represented the most rebounds by a Southland player this season. They were tops by a Demon in 25 seasons.
Lane was the focal point of opposing defenses all season, frequently drawing double teams and dealing with sagging zone defenses.
Committing to constant effort helped him dominate in Southland play. His rebounding and blocked shots (2.8) averages more than doubled his career rates entering his senior year.
Adding in NSU's 13 non-conference contests, Lane's overall season averages were 13.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. He sank 50 percent of his shots, including 17 of 65 3-pointers, and made 61 percent at the free throw line. Lane averaged 1.4 assists and nearly one steal.
After starting 114 of his 117 games for the Demons in four seasons, Lane finished ranked in NSU's top 10 of three career statistics. His 1,467 points (12.5 career average) stand ninth all-time in Demon history, while his 842 rebounds are eighth and his 169 blocked shots are third.
Lane led NSU in rebounding, blocks and shooting percentage in each of his four seasons. He finished with a career 52.6 percent shooting rate, including 36 3-pointers for a career 32 percent average. He was a 62.5 percent shooter on the free throw line as a Demon.
