WEST HARTFORD, Conn.
-- For the second straight year, a Boston University guard has been tabbed America East’s top player as the Terriers’ Darryl
Partin was named the 2012 Kevin Roberson Player of the Year on Friday. Partin headlined the annual award winners, which were announced along with the
all-conference teams, at the league’s annual awards reception at the University of Hartford, which is hosting the America East Men’s & Women’s Basketball
Championship presented by Newman’s Own for the third consecutive year this weekend.
Stony Brook University, the regular-season champion and top seed for the conference tournament, garnered two of the other three major awards with
junior forward Tommy Brenton receiving Defensive Player of the Year accolades and Steve Pikiell earning Coach of the Year distinction for the second time
in three years. University of Vermont’s Four McGlynn earned Rookie of the Year honors, becoming the second straight Catamount to take home the award
and
fi fth since 2001. The winners were all chosen in a vote by the league’s head coaches.
Partin, a senior guard, follows former teammate John Holland as the league’s Player of the Year. The duo is the fourth tandem in conference history to
win back-to-back Roberson trophies and
fi rst since Vermont’s T.J. Sorrentine and Taylor Coppenrath accomplished the feat in 2002 and 2003, respectively.
Partin has shouldered the brunt of the Terriers’ offensive load this season, scoring 19.7 points per game, which ranks second in America East and 20th in
the country, and also accounts for 31 percent of his team’s output, the highest rate of any player in the league. Also a
fi rst-team all-conference choice for
the second straight season, Partin has gone over 20 points 15 times this year and has twice earned America East Player of the Week honors (Nov. 28, Feb.
13). He surpassed the 1,000-point mark earlier this year and has 1,287 career points, including 1,113 in just 66 games at Boston U.
Brenton, a junior forward who also earned
fi rst-team all-league honors, leads a Stony Brook defense that ranks among the nation’s best, holding opponents
to just 59.5 points per game, which ranks 17th nationally, and only 41.5 percent shooting. An All-Defensive selection for the second time in his career,
Brenton ranks fourth among league leaders in rebounding (7.8 rpg),
fi fth in defensive rebounds (4.3 drpg) and fourth in steals (1.5 spg). Brenton, who
also averages 7.8 points per game, earned America East Co-Player of the Week honors on Jan. 23.
McGlynn, a freshman guard, sparked Vermont’s offense all season with his play off the bench. The only player in the nation to lead his team in scoring
without having started a game, McGlynn’s 11.9 points per game ranks 14th among league leaders. He was even better in conference play, pouring in 12.4
points per contest. A
fi ve-time America East Rookie of the Week (Dec. 19, Jan. 9, 23, 30, Feb. 13), McGlynn was deadly from three-point range this season,
sinking 57 treys (1.8 pg) and shooting 39.6 percent from deep, the
fi fth-best clip in the conference.
Pikiell led Stony Brook to one of its best seasons in program history. The Seawolves went 20-8 in the regular season, earning their second 20-win season at
the Division I level and capturing the America East regular-season title for the second time in three years. SBU posted a 14-2 record in conference play, its
best in school history, and has reeled off 15 wins in its last 17 games. Pikiell, who has built one of the top defensive programs in the nation, has compiled
56 wins in the last three seasons after earning just 20 victories in his
fi rst three years on Long Island.
Partin and Brenton were joined on the
fi rst team by Albany’s Gerardo Suero, Stony Brook’s Bryan Dougher and Vermont’s Matt Glass. Suero, a junior guard,
leads America East and ranks
fi fth nationally averaging 21.7 points per game. Dougher, a senior guard, is the Seawolves leading scorer (13.4 ppg) and
leads the conference with 79 made three-pointers. Glass paced Vermont to its ninth 20-win season in the last 11 years by scoring 11.9 points per game,
including 13.5 per game in conference play.
Albany’s Mike Black, Boston U.’s D.J. Irving, Maine’s Gerald McLemore, UMBC’s Chase Plummer and New Hampshire’s Alvin Abreu comprise the second
team. Black averages 13.6 points and 4.2 assists for the Great Danes, while Irving leads the league dishing out 5.4 dimes per game. McLemore ranks
third in scoring (17.0 ppg), while Plummer is in the top
fi ve in both scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg). Abreu leads UNH and ranks eighth in
the league scoring 13.7 points per game.
The Great Danes’ Logan Aronhalt (14.2 ppg) leads the third-team choices as a repeat honoree. He is joined by Hartford’s Andres Torres (11.9 ppg, 4.9
apg), Maine’s Alasdair Fraser (13.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg), Stony Brook’s Dallis Joyner (.587 FG percentage, 6.5 rpg) and UVM’s Brian Voelkel (8.3 rpg, 5.0 apg).
Along with McGlynn on the All-Rookie squad are Binghamton’s Ben Dickinson (13.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Hartford’s Mark Nwakamma (8.9 ppg) and Nate Sikma
(8.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Maine’s Justin Edwards (14.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg).
Brenton and Voelkel are accompanied on the All-Defensive squad by Maine’s Mike Allison and Boston U.’s Patrick Hazel, who rank
fi rst and second among
America East blocked shots leaders, respectively, and New Hampshire’s Chandler Rhoads, a repeat choice.
Aronhalt highlights the All-Academic squad after receiving Capital One Academic All-America honors last week. He is joined by three-time selections Andrew
Rogers from Maine and Brian Benson from New Hampshire. Vermont’s Luke Apfeld and Sandro Carissimo round out the team. Those selections were
chosen by a committee made up of America East sports information directors, academic advisors and faculty athletic representatives.
The 2012 America East Men’s & Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Newman’s Own got underway last night and will continue through Sunday,
March 4. The men’s championship game will be played on Saturday, March 10 at the site of the highest remaining seed at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
