Pettaway Nets Preseason All-American Honor

DEFIANCE, Ohio – For the second time in as many seasons, Defiance College center, Anthony Pettaway, has been heralded as a Preseason All-American by a national media outlet. D-III News and SmallCollegeHoops.com named Pettaway as the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year and lauded the senior as an Honorable Mention All-American.

Pettaway, who was the only HCAC representative on the list, is coming off of a 2007-2008 campaign in which he led Defiance to a 19-win season and the regular season HCAC title. The six-foot, eight-inch center ranked among the top three players in the conference with 16.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 16 league contests, en route to taking HCAC Player-of-the-Year and National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American honors.

The Bowsher, Ohio, native also ranked fourth in the HCAC with a 61.5-percent clip from the field and seventh with 1.5 steals per game while leading DC to a 13-3 mark in league action and its first outright conference championship since the 1993-1994 campaign. Along with his NABC All-American and HCAC Player-of-the-Year awards, Pettaway was named D3Hoops.com All-Midwest Region, HCAC Male Athlete of the Month for December, two-time HCAC Player of the Week and earned a spot on the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week on Feb. 17.

Pettaway will enter his final year with the Yellow Jackets as the program's 39th leading scorer with 1,024 career points to his credit. If Pettaway can surpass the 400-point plateau for the third-straight year, he will become one of the top 15 scorers in DC program history.

Pettaway and Defiance will get their 2008-2009 campaign underway when they play at the Albion College Tip-Off on Nov. 21 and 22. The Jackets will open up with the host Albion squad on Nov. 21 at 7:30 pm, before taking on Madonna the following afternoon at 3:00 pm.