Walter Berry Makes It Two Straight Wooden Award Winners for St. John’s

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Walter Berry of fifth-ranked St. John’s was named winner of the 10th John R. Wooden Award Sunday.

The award, presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club, goes to the nation’s top college basketball player, as selected by more than 1,000 sportswriters and sports broadcasters.

Berry, a 6-foot-8 junior, received 556 votes to become the second straight Redman to win the award. Chris Mullin won it last year.

Duke’s Johnny Dawkins finished second with 511 votes, followed by Len Bias of Maryland with 346.

Berry will receive the award from Wooden, the former UCLA coach, during a dinner at the athletic club on April 2.

Berry helped St. John’s (30-4) share the Big East Conference’s regular-season title with Syracuse and Saturday night he preserved the Redmen’s 70-69 victory over Syracuse in the Big East tournament championship game by blocking Dwayne (Pearl) Washington’s shot just before the buzzer.

Berry, his team’s leading scorer and rebounder, is averaging 22.9 points heading into the NCAA tournament.

The other top finishers in the voting were: Kenny Walker, Kentucky, 283; Brad Daugherty, North Carolina, 215; Steve Alford, Indiana, 185; Danny Manning, Kansas, 158; Mark Price, Georgia Tech, 116; Dell Curry, Virginia Tech, 51.