Eight MAAC Men's Basketball Players Named to NABC All-District Teams; Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett Tabbed UPS Division I District 1 Coach of the Year
MAAC Sports
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 27, 2015) -- The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced today the NABC Division I All-District teams and UPS All-District coaches for 2014-15. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, these student-athletes and coaches represent the finest basketball players and coaches across America.
Eight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball players were named to All-District 1 Teams, while Rider head coach, Kevin Baggett, was named the UPS Division I District 1 Coach of the Year.
Of the 10 available slots on both the District 1 First and Second Teams, eight players were from MAAC institutions.
David Laury and A.J. English of Iona were named to the District 1 First team, along with Emmy Andujar of Manhattan and Zaid Hearst of Quinnipiac. Rider’s Matt Lopez, Ousmane Drame of Quinnipiac, Chavaughn Lewis of Marist, and Monmouth's Justin Robinson were named to the District 1 Second Team.
Third-year head coach Kevin Baggett led Rider to a 21-win season and a second place finish in the league standings, en route to earning The Rock MAAC Coach of the Year honors. Rider was picked to finish seventh in the conference’s preseason poll. Baggett is also a finalist for the Ben Jobe National Coaching Award for the second time in his three years as the Broncs’ head coach.
The 2014-15 MAAC Men’s Basketball Player of the year, David Laury averaged 19.8 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game to lead Iona to the regular season crown and an appearance in its third-straight MAAC championship title game. Laury, who was named MAAC Player of the Week a league-best three times, was named one of 16 candidates for the first-ever Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
A.J. English, a First Team All-MAAC selection, was Iona’s leading scorer with 20.1 points per game, which ranked second in the conference. English also tied for the league-lead in assists per game, (5.1 per game), while draining a MAAC-best 3.1 three-point field goals per game. On the year, English recorded 17 games with 20 or more points, including four efforts with 30 or more.
Emmy Andujar, helped lead the 2015 MAAC Champions, Manhattan, to back-to-back conference championship titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. The senior led the Jaspers in points (16.3 per game), rebounds (7.6 per game), assists (3.5 per game), and steals (2.0 per game). Andujar wrapped up his career in Riverdale, New York, with 79 wins, two MAAC Championships, three MAAC Title Game appearances and two 20-win seasons. Andujar was tabbed to the All-MAAC First Team.
Zaid Hearst started all 30 games for the Bobcats in 2014-15, averaging 18.3 points per game. He ranked fourth in the MAAC in scoring, while sitting top-15 in rebounding (6.1), field goal percentage (43.2), offensive rebounding (2.3), and minutes played (36.9). A First Team All-MAAC selection, Hearst finished with 1,610 career points at Quinnipiac, putting him in 12th all-time and third in the Division I era in scoring.
Matt Lopez was a First Team All-MAAC selection this year, leading Rider in scoring (12.3) and rebounding (7.7), while also leading the entire MAAC in field goal percentage (.584). Lopez missed the final five games of the season with a knee injury, and Rider went 2-3 in those games, with losses in both the MAAC and the CBI tournaments.
Ousmane Drame averaged a double-double with 14.9 points and 11.2 rebounds – ranking sixth nationally in rebounds per game. The MAAC's leader in offensive and defensive rebounding, and blocked shots, Drame also ranked among the league leaders in free-throw percentage and field goal percentage. The senior forward became the fifth player at Quinnipiac to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Chavaughn Lewis concluded his Marist career with a program record of 2,119 career points- a total good for sixth place in MAAC history. In the 2014-15 season, he led the MAAC in scoring (20.6 points per game) and steals (2.31 per game). His scoring and steals averages rank 10th and 13th in the NCAA, respectively, as of March 26. Lewis was named to the All-MAAC Second Team.
Justin Robinson, a First Team All-MAAC selection this season, led the squad with his 13.4 point-per-game average to rank 12th in the conference, while scoring 15.8 points per game in MAAC contests. The guard ranked fourth in the league in assists with a 3.6 average, while his 1.7 steals per contest ranked fifth in the conference.
UPS Division I District 1 Coach of the Year
Kevin Baggett, Rider
District 1 First Team
David Laury, Iona
A.J. English, Iona
Emmy Andujar, Manhattan
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook
Zaid Hearst, Quinnipiac
District 1 Second Team
Sam Rowley, Albany
Matt Lopez, Rider
Ousmane Drame, Quinnipiac
Chavaughn Lewis, Marist
Justin Robinson, Monmouth