ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (Mar. 6, 2023) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), today unveiled the members of the 2022-23 Men’s Basketball All-Rookie Team, as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
The MAAC All-Rookie Team featured Canisius College’s Tahj Staveskie, Cruz Davis from Iona University, Isaiah Brickner of Marist College, Saint Peter’s University’s Corey Washington, and Michael Eley from Siena College. Staveskie, Davis, Brickner, and Eley were unanimous selections to the rookie team.
Staveskie is the lone freshman on the All-Rookie team to appear and start in every game for his respective team, taking the court 29 times while averaging 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.0 steals each outing. A 6-foot guard from Sandusky, Ohio, he was the Golden Griffins top offensive player during his redshirt-freshman season, scoring a team-high 357 total points, while ranking 18th in the MAAC in scoring, 12th in assists, and 15th in steals. Staveskie collected the second-most Rookie of the Week honors in 2022-23, garnering five selections during the season. Despite being a rookie, he led the Griffs in scoring, assists, steals, and minutes during the regular season.
A key reserve for the MAAC Regular Season champions, Davis seen action in 23 games while making seven starts. The Plano, Texas native averaged 19.3 minutes per contest, recording a stat line of 6.7 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists. Davis surpassed double-digit scoring five times, including a career-high 16 points against Marist on Jan. 6, en route to his only Rookie of the Week award on Jan. 9.
Making 26 appearances in the starting lineup and playing in all 29 of his team’s games during the stanza, Brickner was the second All-Rookie Team member to start in over 20 games as a freshman. He ended the regular season as one of the league’s top distributors, leading the Red Foxes and ranking 13th in the conference in assists, handing out 2.62 per game and 76 overall. Hailing from San Diego, California, Brickner averaged 7.1 points, and 3.2 rebounds additionally. He scored in double figures six times in 2022-23, highlighted by a career-best mark of 15 points, which came versus Fairfield on Dec. 30. He was honored with a pair of rookie weekly honors, picking up the awards on Jan. 16 and Feb. 6.
Washington was the third All-Rookie Team full-time starter for his squad, getting the nod in 22 games while appearing in 25 total contests. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 7.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game during his first season in Jersey City. Amongst the MAAC’s best, Washington ranked eighth in blocked shots, 12th in offensive rebounding, and 17th in total rebounding. In the regular season, the Sherwood, Arizona native reached double digit scoring six times, recording his career-high 18 points on two separate occasions; once in the season opener against NJIT and matching the mark again against Niagara on Feb. 26.
The top weekly award receiver of the season, Eley led the entire conference in overall weekly awards with his MAAC-best six Rookie of the Week awards in 2022-23. The freshman sensation for the Saints, played in over 20 minutes per game off the bench, suiting up 28 times with one start. Coming from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he scored in double figures 12 times, averaging 9.2 points, while also collecting 2.8 rebounds. He surpassed 20 points a pair of times, both coming against Mount St. Mary’s. Eley scored exactly 20 points against the Mount on Jan. 20 and he followed that up with a career mark of 23 points on Feb. 10 against the Mount. Moreover, Eley ranked top-25 in three-point field goal percentage during his rookie campaign.
One of the five members of the MAAC All-Rookie Team will be honored as the 2022-23 MAAC Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Year when major awards are announced on Wednesday, March 8.
The 2022-23 campaign culminates with the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships from March 7-11 at Atlantic City's Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall for the fourth consecutive year. For all information regarding the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, please visit
MAACSports.com/basketball and by following @MAACHoops and #MAACHoops on Twitter. For tickets to the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, please visit
ticketmaster.com.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 42nd year of competition during the 2022-23 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan College, Marist College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.
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