Burger King NZ Breaker forward Dillon Boucher has become the first Kiwi to pick up the gong for Best Defensive Player at last night’s Australian NBL awards dinner in Melbourne, while Kirk Penney was named to his second consecutive All-NBL First Team.

Other Breakers to feature in the awards were CJ Bruton (All-NBL Second Team), Tony Ronaldson (nominated Best Sixth Man), Tom Abercrombie (nominated Best Sixth Man, Most Improved, Best Defensive Player).

Meanwhile Townsville Crocodiles’ star point guard Corey ‘Homicide’ Williams has been named the winner of the Andrew Gaze Trophy as the National Basketball League’s Most Valuable Player for the 2009/2010 season at the NBL and WNBL Awards Dinner in Melbourne on tonight.

Williams received 92 votes to take the award from Adelaide 36ers forward Adam Ballinger, who polled 80. Melbourne Tigers’ forward Mark Worthington came in third place with 72 votes, followed by Wollongong Hawks’ guard Tywain McKee in fourth place with 70 points. Perth Wildcats forward Shawn Redhage, whose team won the 2010 NBL Championship, was fifth with 69 points.

Williams, who has now been a Croc for three years, averaged 18.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.1 assists over his 31 games this season, shooting the ball at 50.6% from the field. For the second year running Williams led the Crocodiles to a semifinal berth.

Williams becomes only the second Croc to win the award after club legend Robert Rose claimed the honour in 2001.

Voting for the MVP award is conducted following each regular season game by the coaching staffs of each team, with the player amassing the most votes at the end of the season being declared the winner.

The NBL’s MVP award is named after Melbourne Tigers great Andrew Gaze, with the trophy being a specially commissioned sculpture of Gaze in action.

The results of the other awards announced tonight are below.

ALL-NBL TEAMS

League MVP Corey Williams and last year’s MVP Kirk Penney head a star studded All-NBL First Team for the 2009/10 National Basketball League season. The two MVP’s are joined by exciting point guard Tywain McKee from the Wollongong Hawks, tenacious power forward Mark Worthington from the Melbourne Tigers and Perth’s star player Shawn Redhage.

Corey Williams and Kirk Penney could not be separated, both polling 63 votes, followed by McKee with 57, Worthington (55) and Redhage (51).

This is the third time Worthington and Penney have been named in the All-NBL First Team. After missing out by one vote last year, Williams made amends by being named this year. Shawn Redhage also moved up from the Second Team last season.

Adelaide’s main man, Adam Ballinger (49), missed out this year by the smallest of margins, only going down by two votes to Redhage. Ballinger was joined on the All-NBL Second Team by CJ Bruton from New Zealand (38), Anthony Petrie of the Gold Coast (29) and the back court for the Blaze in Ayinde Ubaka (26) and Adam Gibson (28).

Dynamic point guard from the Melbourne Tigers, Julius Hodge (25), was at the head of the ALL-NBL Third team despite missing the first half of the season. Hodge was joined by fellow American John Gilchrist from the Adelaide 36ers and grand finalist trio, Glen Saville (24), Cameron Tragardh (23) and Larry Davidson (20) from the Hawks.