Photo by: SMC Athletics / Piper Westrom
MBB | Marciulionis and Murauskas Tabbed as Finalists for the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Award
3/13/2025 10:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BOSTON, Mass. — As just announced by collegeinsider.com, the Lithuanian duo of Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas have both been named finalists for the 2024-25 Lou Henson Award. The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the top player in mid-major in college basketball. The award is named for coach Lou Henson, who is the winningest all-time head coach in both Illinois and New Mexico State history. In 2013, Gael great Matthew Dellavedova became the first ever Saint Mary's player to win this honor.
The back-to-back WCC Player of the Year, Marciulionis had an incredible 2023-24 campaign, and somehow was even better in 2024-25. The Vilnius, Lithuania native saw increases in minutes played, points and assists this year, serving as the Gaels leading scorer for the first time in his career. After an eight assist performance in the WCC Tournament Championship game earlier this week, Marciulionis became just the sixth Gael in program history with 200 assists in a single season, and is two assists shy of becoming the fifth Gael ever with 500 assists for his career. This year, he climbed into the top-10 in program history in steals (143) and the top-30 in scoring (1202) for his career, while his 136 games played in an SMC uniform ranks fourth all-time. He became the second ever Gael in program history to win WCC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, and the first since 1962 and 1963, when Steve Gray captured this distinction.
A newcomer to the Gaels this season, Murauskas transferred in from Arizona, and was an immediate force at the power forward position. The leading rebounder in the WCC this season, Murauskas tallied 13 double-doubles, also good for the top mark in the WCC. He was the second leading scorer for the Gaels, behind only his countryman Marciulionis, and became the first Gael in three seasons to score 30 in a game, doing so on the inaugural Saint Mary's Lithuania Night. He is the first Gael since Jock Landale to record double digit double-doubles in a single season.
Here is the complete list of finalists:
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, TX, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.
#GaelsRise
The back-to-back WCC Player of the Year, Marciulionis had an incredible 2023-24 campaign, and somehow was even better in 2024-25. The Vilnius, Lithuania native saw increases in minutes played, points and assists this year, serving as the Gaels leading scorer for the first time in his career. After an eight assist performance in the WCC Tournament Championship game earlier this week, Marciulionis became just the sixth Gael in program history with 200 assists in a single season, and is two assists shy of becoming the fifth Gael ever with 500 assists for his career. This year, he climbed into the top-10 in program history in steals (143) and the top-30 in scoring (1202) for his career, while his 136 games played in an SMC uniform ranks fourth all-time. He became the second ever Gael in program history to win WCC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, and the first since 1962 and 1963, when Steve Gray captured this distinction.
A newcomer to the Gaels this season, Murauskas transferred in from Arizona, and was an immediate force at the power forward position. The leading rebounder in the WCC this season, Murauskas tallied 13 double-doubles, also good for the top mark in the WCC. He was the second leading scorer for the Gaels, behind only his countryman Marciulionis, and became the first Gael in three seasons to score 30 in a game, doing so on the inaugural Saint Mary's Lithuania Night. He is the first Gael since Jock Landale to record double digit double-doubles in a single season.
Here is the complete list of finalists:
| Daniel Batcho | 6-11 | Sr. | Louisiana Tech |
| Ante Brzovic | 6-10 | Sr. | Charleston |
| Adam "Budd" Clark | 5-10 | So. | Merrimack |
| Zach Cleveland | 6-7 | Jr. | Liberty |
| Oscar Cluff | 6-11 | Sr. | South Dakota State |
| Tayton Conerway | 6-3 | Sr. | Troy |
| Mark Freeman | 5-11 | Sr. | James Madison |
| Javohn Garcia | 6-3 | Sr. | McNeese |
| Kimani Hamilton | 6-8 | Jr. | High Point |
| Barrington Hargress | 6-0 | So. | UC Riverside |
| Jalen Jackson | 6-2 | Jr. | Purdue Fort Wayne |
| Nate Johnson | 6-3 | Jr. | Akron |
| Jordan Jones | 6-0 | Sr. | Central Connecticut State |
| Jacari Lane | 6-0 | Jr. | North Alabama |
| Bent Leuchten | 7-1 | Sr. | UC Irvine |
| Augustas Marciulionis | 6-4 | Sr. | Saint Mary's |
| Jordan Marsh | 5-10 | So. | UNC Asheville |
| Bez Mbeng | 6-4 | Sr. | Yale |
| Brian Moore, Jr. | 6-2 | Sr. | Norfolk State |
| Paulius Murauskas | 6-8 | So. | Saint Mary's |
| Dominick Nelson | 6-5 | Jr. | Utah Valley |
| Jacob Ognacevic | 6-8 | Sr. | Lipscomb |
| Quimari Peterson | 6-1 | Sr. | ETSU |
| Jaron Pierre Jr. | 6-6 | Sr. | Jacksonville State |
| John Poulakidas | 6-6 | Sr. | Yale |
| Matt Rogers | 6-9 | Sr. | American |
| PJay Smith Jr. | 6-0 | Sr. | Furman |
| Bennett Stirtz | 6-4 | Jr. | Drake |
| Marquel Sutton | 6-9 | Sr. | Omaha |
| Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones | 6-6 | Sr. | UC San Diego |
| Ray'Sean Taylor | 6-1 | Sr. | SIU Edwardsville |
| Tyler Tejada | 6-9 | So. | Towson |
| Malik Thomas | 6-5 | Sr. | San Francisco |
| Earl Timberlake | 6-6 | Sr. | Bryant |
| Nick Townsend | 6-7 | Jr. | Yale |
#GaelsRise
Players Mentioned
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