CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Freshman guard Spence Sims of the Gardner-Webb men's basketball team has been named the Big South Freshman of the Year as announced by the league on Tuesday, March 3. In addition, junior guard Ace Talbert earned Big South All-Academic Team honors.

Sims is the first-ever Gardner-Webb player to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year during GWU's league tenure (since 2008-09).  Sims was the highest-scoring freshman in the conference during the regular-season with 9.9 points and ranked ninth in three-pointers per game with 2.1, also most among league freshmen.  A six-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree this season, Sims scored a career-high 29 points at Winthrop on Jan. 3 where he knocked down 7-of-12 treys.  He made 65 three-pointers overall and was 43.9 percent from beyond the arc.  Sims finished with two first-place votes and 31 points, just ahead of Charleston Southern's Jacob Taylor (two first-place votes and 30 points), followed by Radford's Frederik Erichsen and UNC Asheville's Daniel Thomas, who each received two first-place votes and 22 points.

Talbert, in his first year with the Runnin' Bulldogs, contributed 6.9 points per game while knocking down a team second-best 34 threes on the season. Talbert recorded double-figure scoring in six games, including a 17-point performance against league-leading High Point.