April 17, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) announced unveiling of the area's NCAA Division I award winners on Thursday, with St. John's junior captain Anthony Mason Jr. receiving an All-Met first team selection. Mason Jr., who bettered his All-Met second team honor from a season ago, will accept his award at the 75th Annual Collegiate Awards Presentations on Thursday night at the Giants Stadium Club in East Rutherford, N.J. Red Storm women's basketball players Kia Wright and Monique McLean will also be honored for their second team selections. The MBWA is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its awards presentation, honoring New York City's top basketball players, and feting the area's most outstanding player with the Haggerty Award since 1934. That award is named for Frank C. Haggerty, a standout basketball and baseball player at St. John's, who died in military service surrounding World War II. Mason Jr. was the Red Storm's top scorer (14.0 points per game) and third-leading rebounder (4.4 rebounds per game) despite missing eight games this season with ankle injuries. The 6-7, 209-pound native of Memphis, Tenn., stepped up his game during BIG EAST play, averaging 15.7 ppg to rank 13th among all conference players in scoring. His 41.0 percent shooting clip from long range and his 2.1 3-pointers per game during conference contests ranked second and eighth in the league, respectively. After missing three games with an ankle contusion in early February, Mason Jr. finished strong. He averaged 15.0 points with 4.6 rebounds, while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from long distance, in 33.3 minutes over the final seven games of the regular season.
Mason Jr. was an honorable mention All-BIG EAST selection in 2007-08, and a second team MBWA All-Met honoree in 2006-07. This past season he was the recipient of weekly honors from the BIG EAST Conference and the MBWA on Jan. 28, after he posted back-to-back career-high 29-point performances against No. 13/17 Pitt (Jan. 23) and then on the road at Louisville (Jan. 26). MBWA ALL-MET FIRST TEAM: Jason Thompson, Rider, 6-11, Sr., F, Mt. Laurel, N.J.; Antoine Agudio, Hofstra, 6-3, Sr., G, Huntington Station, N.Y.; Brian Laing, Seton Hall, 6-5, Sr., G/F, Bronx, N.Y.; Anthony Mason Jr., St. John's, 6-7, Jr., F, Memphis, Tenn.; Bryant Dunston, Fordham, 6-8, Sr., F, Queens, N.Y.; John Baumann, Columbia, 6-7, Sr., F, Westport, Conn. MBWA ALL-MET SECOND TEAM: Durell Vinson, Wagner, 6-7, Sr., F, Vineland, N.J.; Mark Porter, Wagner, 6-2, Sr., G, Atlantic City, N.J.; Ryan Thompson, Rider, 6-6, Sr., G, Mt. Laurel, N.J.; Jarell Brown, Army, 6-2, Sr., G, Cleveland; Manny Ubilla, FDU, 6-2, Sr., G, Freehold, N.J.; Jaytornah Wisseh, LIU, 6-1, So., G, Brooklyn, N.Y. MBWA ALL-MET THIRD TEAM: Todd Sowell, St. Peter's, 6-7, Sr., F, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Eugene Harvey, Seton Hall, 6-0, So., G, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Charles Jenkins, Hofstra, 6-3, Fr., G, Queens, N.Y.; Marcus Stout, Fordham, 6-4, Sr., G, Southfield, Mich.; Antoine Pearson, Manhattan, 6-2, So., G, Bronx, N.Y.; Jonathan Han, Fairfield, 6-0, Jr., G, Brooklyn, N.Y. 2008 Haggerty Award, Player of the Year: Jason Thompson, Rider. |
|
||||||||||||||||
