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Northwest College freshmen Chris Hansen and Jeffrey Solarin were honored by the Region IX men’s basketball coaches with inclusion on the region’s postseason rosters. Hansen also had his name forwarded for All-America consideration.
A highly-touted recruit, Hansen proved to be a workhorse for the Trappers, who finished 22-9 this past winter. The 2011 scoring leader for Colorado high school basketball averaged almost 30 minutes per game for Northwest College, scoring a nightly average of 18.7 points per contest.
Hansen was deadly from behind the arc, where he knocked home 96 3-point buckets last season. Hansen connected on 42.5 percent of his shots from above the arc while also connecting on better than 86 percent of his free throw attempts.
Hansen also ranked among the Trappers top three in rebounds and steals. He was named a Region IX second-team selection for his efforts.
“To be honest, I was a little surprised that he was only on the second team,” said Trapper head coach Andy Ward. “But the way things worked, each half of the region got three players to the first team, three on the second team and three on the third team and he was the No. 4 guy in votes from our half.”
Despite the vote outcome, Hansen’s name was one of five forwarded by Region IX for consideration for NJCAA All-America honors.
Also named to the postseason roster for the Trappers was freshman Jeffrey Solarin, another of NWC’s strong Colorado signings last off-season. After leading the state of Colorado in rebounding as a high school senior, Solarin proved equally dominating on the glass at the junior college level.
Solarin finished the year averaging 15.1 points per game and a team-best 8.9 rebounds per night. He was Northwest’s most efficient shooter from the floor, connecting on 63.4 percent of his shots, and also accounted for nearly half of the team’s 46 blocked shots this past year.
Solarin was a third-team selection within Region IX.