NORTHEAST CONFERENCE • 200 COTTONTAIL LANE • SOMERSET, NJ 08873 • PH: (732) 469-0440 • FAX: (732) 469-0744 • WWW.NORTHEASTCONFERENCE.ORG For Immediate Release February 27, 2018 Mount St. Mary’s Junior Robinson Named NEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year RMU’s Koby Thomas Voted NEC Rookie of the Year Mount’s Chris Wray Tabbed NEC Defensive Player of the Year Saint Francis U’s Andre Wolford Selected NEC Most Improved Player Wagner’s Bashir Mason Named Jim Phelan Coach of the Year Somerset, NJ -- With the postseason upon us, it’s time to recognize the best-of-the-best from the 2017-18 Northeast Confer- ence (NEC) men’s basketball season. Following a regular season that saw him earn national acclaim, Mount St. Mary’s senior guard Junior Robinson (Mebane, NC/ Eastern Alamance) was unanimously named the NEC Player of the Year in a vote conducted by the league’s head coaches. NEC Rookie of the Year honors went to Robert Morris freshman forward Koby Thomas (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter). Mount St. Mary’s earned a second major honor when senior forward Chris Wray (Shelby, NC/Shelby (Fishburne Military School (VA))) was tabbed the NEC Defensive Player of the Year. Saint Francis U junior guard Andre Wolford (Willowick, OH/ Saint Ignatius) was voted the NEC’s Most Improved Player. Wagner’s Bashir Mason was chosen as the Jim Phelan Coach of the Year after leading the Seahawks to the NEC regular season title. The future also looks bright for the conference with 11 of the 15 All-NEC award recipients set to return next season, including five underclassmen. The honorees were announced this afternoon as a prelude to the 2018 NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, presented by Startwire, which begins on Wednesday with quarterfinal play at four campus sites. A towering force at 5’5”, Robinson turned in one of the finest seasons in recent NEC memory. Possessing unlimited range, speed to burn and the uncanny ability to create for himself and others off the dribble, Robinson did it all for defending NEC champion Mount St. Mary’s en-route to a second place finish. He leads the NEC and ranks 12th nationally with 22.2 ppg, and also ranks second on the circuit in assists (4.9) and free throw percentage (.898, 16th in DI), and fourth in made three-pointers (2.5). If he maintains his scoring average, it would be the third-highest in the last two decades of NEC hoops. The Mebane, NC native has posted an NEC-best five games of 30+ points and is one of only five players nationally averaging at least 22 ppg and 4 apg, one of whom is Oklahoma’s Trae Young. He also ranks 18th nationally in offensive rating (112.6) and 15th in usage rate (32.3), both league-leading figures. Robinson, who matched the conference record with five NEC Player of the Week nods, is now a three-time All-NEC honoree, having earned second team recognition in each of the last two seasons. He enters the postseason with 1,857 career points and 229 three-pointers, ranking him 13th and 25th respectively, on the NEC all-time lists. Robinson is the second NEC Player of the Year in Mount history, joining all-time great Chris McGuthrie (1995-96). (2017-18 NEC Men’s Basketball All-Conference Release; 1-of-4) Bryant University • Central Connecticut State University • Fairleigh Dickinson University • LIU Brooklyn Mount St. Mary’s University • Robert Morris University • Sacred Heart University St. Francis Brooklyn • Saint Francis University • Wagner College Thomas looked like anything but a freshman for the Colonials, and was one of the key components on a rising team fueled by young talent. He opened his career with a 22-point outing at Ohio State and never looked back. Thomas was a four-time NEC Rookie of the Week who closed out the regular season with 12.3 points and 7.0 rpg, both tops among the league’s fresh- man performers. Likewise, he is one of 19 freshman in the nation to average at least 12/6 this season. A 6’6” high flyer who excels in transition and plays above the rim, Thomas leads the league with 36 dunks on the year, including a pair of four slam games against Drexel and Saint Francis U. The Philly product is the fifth Robert Morris player to claim NEC Rookie of the Year accolades, joining Marcquise Reed (2014-15), Karon Abraham (2009-10), Jeremy Chappell (2005-06) and Steve Vandiver (1986-87). Wray made the paint his personal no fly zone this season, utilizing his wingspan, timing and shot blocking prowess to stifle -op ponents. Despite missing the first eight games of the season with an injury, he ranks second in the NEC with 49 blocks on the year. Averaging 2.1 bpg, he will take over the NEC lead in the category once he plays in his first postseason game and reaches the 75 percent threshold in order to be ranked. The wiry 6’8” forward also averages 2.0 steals per outing, which would place him second in the conference. With Wray as the focal point, the Mount ranks first in the conference in NEC play in blocks oer game (4.4), and second in scoring defense (68.7 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.430), three-point defense (.333), steals (7.3) and turnover margin (+3.3). The Shelby, NC native, who was also named to the All-NEC third team, is the Mount’s third winner of the NEC Defensive Player of the Year award. Mychael Kearse was a back-to-back recipient in 2005-06 and 2006-07. In three years, Wolford has gone from walk-on to one of the nation’s most prolific long distance shooters for a Saint Francis U team contending for the NEC title. Wolford, who played just 13 minutes as a freshman and averaged 4.7 ppg as a sophomore, suddenly emerged as one of the vital pieces of a prolific Red Flash offense that paces the conference with 79.8 ppg. Wolford has supplied SFU with 14.1 ppg, while hitting at a remarkably efficient 49.5 percent clip from three-point range to rank first in the NEC and third nationally. He also paces the circuit in both true shooting percentage (69.4) and effective field goal percent- age (67.0), numbers that place him eighth and 14th, respectively, in the country. Likewise, the 6’2” guard ranks second in the NEC and 21st in DI with 3.17 made three-pointers per game. Wolford, who hails from Willowick, OH, is the third SFU player to collect Most Improved Honors in the eight years since the award was instituted. The Red Flash’s Scott Eatherton was named MIP in 2011-12 and Earl Brown was the recipient of the award the following season. In what may be Mason’s most masterful job yet, he guided Wagner to the second NEC regular season title during his time on Grymes Hill. Wagner’s 14 wins in NEC play and 21 overall wins headed into the postseason also represented high water marks for the 34-year old coach, whose defense first mentality has translated into sustained success in his six years at the helm of the program. The Seahawks have led the NEC in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in each of the last three seasons under Mason. This year, Wagner is limiting opponents to 68.3 ppg and 40.7 percent shooting from the floor. The Seahawks also increased their scoring output by 7.0 points to 75.2 ppg. This marks Mason’s second Jim Phelan Coach of the Year award, having also been honored in 2015-16 after the Seahawks captured the regular season crown. Former Wagner coaches Dereck Whittenburg (2002-03) and Tim Capstraw (1991-92) were also winners of this award. AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS Mount St. Mary’s senior guard Junior Robinson (Mebane, NC/Eastern Alamance) is the lone three-time All-NEC honoree on this year’s list. He was a two-time member of the second team before bumping up to the first team this season. Saint Francis U sophomore guard Keith Braxton (Glassboro, NJ/The Lawrenceville School) joined Robinson as the only returning All-NEC performers. Braxton was named to the second team as a freshman last season. He has some work to do on the assist side over the next two years, but it’s conceivable that Braxton could become the second 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound, 500-assist player in NCAA history along with former Duke great Danny Ferry. He has already ac- cumulated 941 points, 572 rebounds and 202 assists in less than two full seasons. Among active NEC players, he ranks in the NEC career top-10 in all three categories. All five first team recipients and 13 of the 15 All-NEC award winners are listed as guards or swingmen. The only true forwards on the list are FDU’s Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, NJ/Arthur P. Schalick) and the Mount’s Chris Wray (Shelby, NC/Shelby (Fishburne Military School (VA))). (2017-18 NEC Men’s Basketball All-Conference Release; 2-of-4) Players from the 2016-17 All-Rookie team to make the jump to All-Conference were St. Francis Brooklyn’s Rasheem Dunn (Brooklyn, NY/Thomas Jefferson) and Bryant’s Adam Grant (Franklin, VA/Norfolk Collegiate School). Wagner was the only school with three All-NEC award winners. Senior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) was tabbed to the first team, sophomore guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) to the second team and redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Potomac (Mount Zion Prep)) to the third team.