NABC All-Region Teams

VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State senior men's basketball standout Beau Justice added National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First Team All-Region honors to his list of accolades this season.  VSU head coach Mike Helfer was tabbed South Region Coach of the Year by the organization.  
 
Justice, a native of Peebles, Ohio, capped an outstanding career as a Blazer as he led the team in scoring at 21.8 points per game in 2018-19.  Justice earned first team all-conference honors, all-league tournament accolades and was a member of the Bevo Francis Award Top 25 Watch List.  He earned D2CCA First Team All-South Region accolades, too.    
 
He finished his storied career at VSU going 228 of 462 from the field (.494), while going 82 of 192 from beyond the arc (.427) and was a team-best 138 of 160 from the line (.863). Justice tallied 110 assists and 37 steals, while scoring a team-high 676 points, good for fifth all-time in a single season in program history.  He finished second in the league in free throw attempts and makes, while leading the league in free throw percentage for 49^thnationally.  He finished 33^rdnationally in field goal attempts (462), 27^thin field goals made (228), while his 676 points ranked 19^thnationally and second in the league.  
 
For his VSU career, Justice is fifth all-time in scoring at VSU with 1,754 points, while his 18.7 points per game ranks fourth all-time in school history.  He is fourth in school history in made field goals (589) and tied for fourth in field goals attempted (1,234).  He is fourth in career free throws made (319), tied for sixth in free throws attempted (364) and second in free throw percentage at a .876 clip.  He leads the all-time record book in made triples (257) and 3-pointers attempted (622), while ranking tied for sixth in 3-point percentage at a .413 clip.  Justice is seventh all-time in career assists with 276.  He transferred to VSU after playing the 2015-16 season at West Liberty University in West Virginia.
 
Last season, Justice earned NABC All-America Honors and was a member of the prestigious GSC Top Ten, named GSC Player of the Year and earned GSC All-Academic Honors.  
 
Joining Justice on the first team were Nova Southeastern's David Dennis, Adam Dieball of Christian Brothers, Johnathan Lawton of Florida Southern, Mark Matthews of Nova Southeastern and Marquill Smith of West Georgia.  
 
Helfer completed his 14^thseason at the helm of the Blazers with his third-straight Gulf South Conference regular season title and third-straight trip to the NCAA South Regional, finishing with a 24-7 record and went 16-4 in GSC play.  Helfer is 277-137 (.669) at VSU during his tenure and has won 20 or more games each of the last three seasons and seven times overall. He has a 463-220 (.678) all-time as a coach in 22 seasons, as he coached eight years at Southern Poly, prior to coming to Titletown.  
 
In 2018-19, Helfer guided the Blazers to score 2,782 points for second all-time in school history and averaged 89.7 points per game for eighth nationally and first in the Gulf South Conference.  The 89.7 points per game ranked third all-time in program history.  VSU tallied 554 assists on the year for the school-record, while ranking 11^thnationally and first in the league.  VSU led the school annals in free throw percentage for a season in 2018-19 at a .765 clip on 486 of 635, as the percentage ranked 32^ndnationally and first in the league. The Blazers drained 320 triples for second all-time in school history in a season and 24^thnationally, for second in the conference.
 
This is Helfer's second NABC Region Coach of the Year honor as he received the accolade in 2016-17. Helfer has been honored as Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year three times.  Helfer now will move onto the ballot for NABC National Coach of the Year.