Everton Tigers coach Tony Garbelotto has won the Molton coach of the month award for December, while Andre Smith is player of the month.

Garbeletto picks up the honour for the first time as Everton coach in a month which saw them reach the BBL Cup final and go top of the BBL Championship.

Smith continued his fine start to life in the BBL as he averaged 25.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

The American forward also averaged 3.2 assists and one block per game.

Andre has a very good all-round skill-set but he plays harder than almost any player in the league Everton Tigers coach Tony Garbelotto

Garbelotto was delighted to collect his award and he was full of praise for his sides efforts so far this season.

"The more successful a team is, the more individual awards you get," said Garbelotto. "If the team didn't do as well as we have, I wouldn't be receiving the award."

The Everton head coach is also pleased for Smith, who only missed one game in the month was a defeat to Plymouth.

Garbeletto continued: "I didn't key in on how good Andre's numbers were.

"Andre has a very good all-round skill-set but he plays harder than almost any player in the league. That's one of the reasons he's successful at both ends of the court.

"He puts in a lot of hard work in practice and from Tigers' point of view and I hope he will continue to play as well during the rest of the season."

The Tigers return to action on Friday, 9 December when they host Leicester Riders in the BBL Trophy, tip-off 1930 GMT.

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