Goucher Men's Basketball 30th Anniversary: 1990s All-Decade Team Announced

BALTIMORE, Md. – Goucher Athletics has announced the 1990s Men's Basketball All-Decade Team after a week of online voting through the website. This All-Decade vote is part of the 30th Anniversary of the men's basketball first season as a varsity program in 1990-91. 

Guards: Chad Beeten, David Clark, Gerard Garlic
Forwards: Predrag Durkovic, Tavar Witherspoon
Honorable Mentions: Mike Doyle (G/F), Corey Garner (G), Vince Williams (G), Pete Manlove (F), Thurmond Toland (F)

The Gophers went 137-99 in the 1990s, including 117-47 in the final six seasons of the decade. Six players named to the All-Decade Team received All-Capital Athletic Conference (now Coast 2 Coast Conference) honors a total of 12 times. The team also includes two Goucher Athletics Hall of Fame members and three 1,000-point scorers. All four of the program's conference titles occurred in the decade, including all three NCAA Division III Tournament berths. In the final six years of the decade, the squad finished in the Top-3 of the conference standings.

"This is such a great group of players and people, who are being honored for the 1990s all decade team," said men's basketball head coach Tom Rose. "Along with their teammates they accomplished great things during the 1990s because of their commitment and dedication to Goucher men's basketball. I feel so fortunate to have witnessed their talents and successes first hand as a teammate or as an assistant coach during the program's first decade."

Next week, we will conduct the 2000s Men's Basketball All-Decade vote to continue the 30th Anniversary celebration. The selections for the 2000s All-Decade Team will join the 1990s All-Decade Team and the 2010s All-Decade Team for the 30th Anniversary Men's Basketball Team vote on March 1-5.

To be eligible for the All-Decade Team, a student-athlete must have competed for at least two seasons between the 1990 and 1999 seasons and must graduate from the college. Also, only the statistics during the years 1990 and 1999 are eligible.

GUARDS
Beeten joined the team in 1992 and finished his career in Baltimore in 1996. He appeared in 96 games with 61 starts, 934 points, 207 assists, and 144 assists for his career. Beeten, whose point total sits 12th in team history, was named to the All-CAC second team in his senior year after posting the best season of his career with 370 points thanks to shooting 122-for-267 from the field, 71 of 159 from behind the arc, and 55 of 76 from the free-throw line.

Clark, who donned the Blue and Gold colors from 1991 to 1995, started all 105 games he played and registered 1,833 points along with 619 rebounds, 413 assists, and 158 steals in his collegiate career. He holds the program's all-time career record for points, scoring average (17.5 ppg.), field goals (619), and assists while ranking in the Top-5 in rebounding and free throws made (350). He recorded a then program-record 38 points in a game against Mary Washington on February 15, 1992, and a then program-record 12 assists in a contest against St. Mary's (Md.) on February 5, 1992, and currently sits in second place in both of those categories. A four-time All-CAC selection, including first-team honors in his final three seasons, Clark was the CAC Player of the Year in 1993-94 and is one of two players on this team inducted into the Goucher Athletics Hall of Fame.

Garlic joined the team as a sophomore and played from 1993 to 1996 for the Gophers. He finished with 797 points, 260 rebounds, 244 steals, and 231 assists in those three years. Garlic is the Gophers' king of the steal after holding the triple-crown record for the category as the all-time leader for steals in a career, thefts in a single-season (111, 1994-95), and steals in a single game with nine swipes against Wesley on December 6, 1994. Garlic, an All-CAC second-team selection as a junior, helped limit the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year defensively in Goucher's 102-91 win against Lebanon Valley in the first round of the national tournament for the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. 

FORWARDS
Durkovic played for the Gophers from 1993 to 1997 on the hardwood. He appeared in 107 games, including 105 starts with 1,643 points, 918 rebounds, 182 assists, 79 steals, and 75 blocks in his four seasons. Durkovic holds the program record for career rebounds and rebounds per game (8.4) while ranking second behind Clark in points, field goals (585), along with sitting third in blocks, and fifth in scoring average (15.1 ppg.). He also holds the program record with 19 rebounds in a game against Marymount on February 12, 1996, and against Lycoming on December 20, 1996. A four-time All-CAC selection, Durkovic was a first-team selection in his final two seasons and was a member of the inaugural Goucher Athletics Hall of Fame Class.

Witherspoon played three of his four seasons in a Goucher uniform in the 1990s, finishing with 1,094 points, 508 rebounds, 172 assists, and 126 steals in the decade. An All-CAC second-team selection in his sophomore and junior year, he finished his career as the program's all-time career leader in free throws (384) while ranking fourth in points (1,338). Witherspoon was the first player in program history to haul in 19 boards against Marymount on January 27, 1996, and went a perfect 12-for-12 against Salisbury on January 17, 1996. He scored a career-best 33 points against Stevenson on January 10, 1998, the ninth-best single-game total in team history. 

HONORABLE MENTION
Doyle played the final three seasons of his career in a Goucher uniform from 1995 to 1999. He appeared in 84 games with 82 starts, 808 points, 461 rebounds, 338 assists, and 190 steals in those three campaigns. Doyle holds the program record with 13 assists against Salisbury on January 17, 1998, and ranks third in both assists and steals on the program's all-time career charts. He earned 1998-99 All-CAC second-team honors. 

Garner was one of the players that helped start the varsity program at Goucher, playing the first couple of seasons for the Blue and Gold in program history. He appeared in 35 games with 26 starts and posted 513 points, 192 rebounds and 72 assists in his career. Garner registered 24 points and 11 rebounds in the first-ever NCAA  men's basketball competition for Goucher against Western Maryland, and he posted 19 points and nine rebounds in the program's first win against Gwynedd Mercy with a 77-71 decision.

Williams appeared in 109 contests with 97 starts from 1995 to 1999 in Baltimore. He tallied 615 points, 299 rebounds, 244 assists, and 157 steals in his four-year career. Williams was a part of the most successful time in program history, boasting an 81-28 (.743) record, in his four years including a 46-10 league record, with three 20-win seasons and two CAC Tournament titles and NCAA Division III berths.

Manlove appeared in 103 games with 42 starts for the Gophers from 1991 to 1995. He tallied 537 points, 440 rebounds, 84 assists, and 84 steals in his career. Manlove hauled in a career-best 16 rebounds against Washington Bible on November 25, 1991, the seventh-best mark in program history.

Toland played his games at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center from 1991 to 1995. He appeared in 102 games with 61 starts, 742 points, and 540 rebounds in his career. Toland helped the Gophers to the 1993-94 CAC title after appearing in 25 games, including 22 starts with a career-best 236 points and 172 rebounds.