The America East Conference handed out their end of the season men’s basketball awards on Friday, and the University of Maine Black Bears were well-represented.
Kellen Tynes took home the Defensive Player of the Year. He is also on the All-Defensive Team and a Third Team All-Conference selection. Tynes is the first Black Bear since Francois Bouchard (Rookie of the Year) in 1991 to win a major award. He leads the country in steals at 3.3 per game, and his 95 total steals are the second most ever in America East. Also winning some hardware is Jayden Clayton who is on the All-Rookie Team, and Gedi Juozapaitis who made the All-Conference Third Team and the All-Academic Team. Tynes also has averaged 14.4 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. Clayton has gone for 7 ppg, 3.5 rebounds, and just over 4 assists while Juozapaitis has been the overall team leader in scoring with 15.3 points and shooting nearly 40% from the three-point arc.
Other major award winners include Finn Sullivan (Vermont) as the Player of the Year, Sherif Gross-Bullock (Bryant) Newcomer of the Year, Aaron Deloney (Vermont) Sixth Man of the Year, Jonathan Beagle (Albany) Rookie of the Year, and Pat Duquette (UMass-Lowell) as Coach of the Year.
Maine (13-16) who went 7-9 in America East, finishing as the #7 postseason seed, will be on the road to face #2 Mass-Lowell on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the America East quarterfinals. The Riverhawks and Black Bears split the two regular season meetings, a 72-70 UML victory in Lowell on January 5 and a 75-70 win for Maine in Bangor on January 25.
