Oliver Selected First Team All-American by NJCAA

By Patrick Gordon/Lakeland Sports Information

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.---Sophomore guard Charles Oliver (Scotch Plains, N.J. / Scotch Plains) has been selected First Team (Division II) All-American by the NJCAA, becoming the seventh player in program history to earn national honors.  

Oliver joins select company as just the fifth Laker to earn first team honors in the 43-year history of Lakeland men's basketball.  Oliver also marks the third straight first team selection after Ray Chambers and Brendan Cooper earned the award in 2011 and 2012, respectively.  

Lakeland is the only program in the nation to post three consecutive First Team All-Americans over the last three seasons.

The national honor is the most prestigious in a long list of individual awards for the sophomore transfer.  Oliver was named Player of the Year in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) after leading the Lakers to their first conference title in 18 years.  He was also selected First Team All-Region XII in late March.  

He was named to the all-tournament team at the 5th Annual TJ Memorial Classic and also at the District 11 tournament in Cincinnati at season's end.  

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 19.3 points per game this year after transferring from Rider University, an NCAA Division I program in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.  He ranked in the top-50 nationally in scoring, free throw shooting, and 3-point shooting.