NATCHITOCHES – Two first-year Northwestern State men's basketball players helped the Demons earn representation on the All-Southland Conference Team for the first time in the past two seasons.
 
Senior forward Addison Patterson and junior forward Jerald Colonel earned spots on the all-league teams as announced by the conference office Friday afternoon. The two five-player teams as well as the All-Defensive Team and individual honors were voted on by league coaches.
 
Patterson, a 6-foot-7 native of Missassauga, Ontario, Canada, was named second-team All-Southland Conference in his first season at Northwestern.
 
The Demons' leading scorer at 13.3 points per game, Patterson also leads the team with 40 steals while ranking in the top 15 in the league in free throw percentage (6^th, 74.5), assists (7^th, 3.1 per game), steals (7^th, 1.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (7^th, 1.2), scoring (11^th) and rebounding (15^th, 5.4).
 
Patterson scored in double figures 21 times, including four 20-plus point games – three of which came in league play. He finished the regular season with five double-doubles, highlighted by back-to-back double-doubles against New Orleans and Stephen F. Austin on Jan. 20 and 25.
 
In non-conference play, Patterson delivered a 33-point, 10-rebound double-double in a win against Southern-New Orleans, marking the most points by a player in the two-season Rick Cabrera era of Demon basketball.
 
He is the first Demon named to the All-Southland team since the 2022-23 season (DeMarcus Sharp, Ja'Monta Black).
 
Colonel was selected to the league's All-Defensive Team, extending the Demons' run of representation on that group to four straight seasons.
 
A native of Savannah, Georgia, Colonel made an immediate impact in his first season at Northwestern after transferring from Chipola College.
 
Colonel recorded multiple blocked shots in his first nine games in a Demon uniform – the longest stretch for a Northwestern player since Ishmael Lane's 10-game run in 2018-19.
 
Colonel finished the season with a conference-leading 64 total blocks while also leading the league in blocks per game (2.3). Entering the Southland Conference Tournament, Colonel ranks 15th nationally in blocks per game and 17th in blocks per game.
 
In addition to his shot-blocking prowess, Colonel ranked 13^th in the Southland in rebounds per game (5.6) and was 15^th in defensive rebounds per game (3.7).
 
He finished the season with seven games with at least four blocks, topped by a seven-block performance against McNeese on Jan. 6.
 
Patterson, Colonel and the Demons open Southland Conference Tournament play at 5 p.m. Monday against the winner of Sunday's matchup between No. 8 seed Houston Christian and fifth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.