CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? Juniors Marqus Blakely of Vermont and Corey Lowe of Boston University were unanimous selections to the 2008-09 America East Preseason All-Conference team in voting conducted by the conference’s head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players. That duo is joined by seniors Jay Greene of UMBC and Mike Trimboli of Vermont, and junior Joe Zeglinski of Hartford.
Blakely is coming off a breakout sophomore season in which he became the first player to be honored as America East Player and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. A 6-foot-5 forward, Blakely, led the conference in scoring (19.0 ppg), rebounding (11.0 rpg) and blocked shots (2.7 bpg). He also ranked third in field goal percentage (.550) and in steals (1.9 spg). Blakely, who was named to the honorable mention AP All-America sqaud, recorded 15 double-doubles in 29 games a year ago.
Lowe, a second-team All-America East performer in 2007-08, led the Terriers to wins in nine of their final 12 contests of the year. He was second among league leaders averaging 18.1 points per contest and ranked seventh with 2.9 assists per game. Lowe, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard, ranked among NCAA leaders with 3.54 made three-pointers a game last season and canned 92 on the season, tied for third-best in America East history.
Greene was the catalyst for the Retrievers in their record-setting season last year. The 5-foot-8 point guard led UMBC to 24 victories, its first America East title and first-ever trip to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Greene was a first-team All-Conference selection and named the Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player at the America East Championship. Greene’s 7.2 assists per game led the league and was the fourth best output in the country. His 236 assists were fourth-best in a season in America East history. Greene also took care of the ball, ranking second in the country with a 3.47 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Trimboli has earned All-Conference honors each of his first three years in the league, taking home first-team accolades in 2007 and second-team recognition in 2006 and 2008. He is the conference’s active scoring leader (1,496 points) and 36th all-time in just three seasons. In 2007-08, Trimboli was third in America East in scoring (17.9 ppg) and second in assists (4.5 apg). He also was America East’s top free throw shooter, hitting 86.4 percent of his attempts from the line.
Zeglinski carried Hartford to its most successful season as a Division I program as the Hawks set a program record for wins (18) and reached the America East Championship game for the first time in 20 seasons in the league. Zeglinski, a first-team All-Conference selection, ranked eighth in scoring with 16.2 points per game. He also became just the second player in America East history to make more than 100 three-pointers in a season (103).