Last week, Carl English was named the most valuable player on the St. John’s Edge. On Friday, night, the 37-year-old shooting guard from Patrick’s Cove was named MVP of the entire National Basketball League of Canada.
In 30 games, English led the expansion Edge with a 23.9 points-per-game scoring average, second-best in the league.
His best performance came in a March 3 game at Mile One Centre when he scored a league-record 58 points.
English is also the first Canadian-born player to earn the league’s MVP award.
The announcement came on the same night St. John's came away with a victory in its first-ever NBL Canada playoff game, defeating the Windsor Express 123-120 in double OT at Mile One.
English was one of two Edge players up for the honours. Forward Charles Hinkle was also a finalist, and although the full list of nominees and voting details weren’t released by the league, it was known that league-leading scorer Royce White of the London Lightning, who had been the league’s MVO in 2017, was up for the award again.
Not surprisingly, English was also named Canadian player of the year, while St. John’s head coach/general manager Jeff Dunlap was named the Ian Fowler executive of the year. Dunlap built an Edge roster on the fly and on short notice and then led the team to a second-place finish in the NBL Canada Central Division and third overall in the league.
Other league award-winners announced Friday night were Mike Leslie of the league-leading Halifax Hurricanes, named coach of the year; Du’Vaughan Maxwell of the Island Storm as defensive player of the year; Franklin Sessions of the Storm as newcomer of the year (for any player in his first year in the league); Guillaume Bocard of the Niagara River Lions as rookie of the year; and Ta’Quan Zimmerman of the Hurricanes as sixth man of the year, which goes to players who are big contributors coming off the bench.
Twitter: @telybrendan
