CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- On the heels of winning its third America East men's basketball regular-season title in four years, Stony Brook University has swept the league's final conference awards for the 2013 season, which were announced Monday morning.
The Seawolves' Tommy Brenton averaged a double-double in leading Stony Brook to wins over two of the conference's top teams en route to earning Player of the Week honors. His teammate, Jameel Warney, took home Rookie of the Week honors for the eighth time this season.
Brenton (Columbia, Md.) did a little bit of everything in garnering his second Player of the Week honor of the season and third of his career. The senior forward averaged 10.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 2.5 steals in wins over Boston University and Albany. Brenton recorded his sixth double-double of the year in a 71-55 victory at Boston U. Thursday and flirted with a triple-double, tallying 14 points, 13 boards and seven assists, along with three steals. He then scored six points to go with seven boards and seven more assists in a 75-70 win over Albany Sunday.
Warney (Plainfield, N.J.) averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 68 percent of the field en route to picking up Rookie of the Week honors. The freshman forward, whose eight weekly honors are the second-most in league history, tallied 15 points on perfect 6-for-6 shooting, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks in the win over the Terriers Thursday. He then had 10 points, four boards and two assists against the Great Danes.
America East Notes... in 140 Characters or Less - #AEHOOPS
The America East Men's & Women's Basketball Championship takes place March 8-10 at Albany's SEFCU Arena ... Men's quarterfinal action is Saturday, March 9 with #2 Vermont playing #7 UNH at 12 p.m., #3 Hartford facing #6 UMBC at 2 p.m., #1 Stony Brook taking on #8 Binghamton at 6 p.m. and #4 Albany playing #5 Maine at 8 p.m. ... The UVM-UNH winner will play the Hartford-UMBC winner in the semifinals on Sunday, March 10 at 5 p.m. ... The SBU-Binghamton winner will face the Albany-Maine winner in the other semi at 7 p.m. ... All early-round games will air on ESPN3 and WatchESPN for the first time in league history ... The semifinal winners will play for the league title on Saturday, March 16 at the highest remaining seed at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2 ... Stony Brook and Hartford went unbeaten last week ... For the first time in league history, five teams (Stony Brook, Albany, Vermont, Boston U. and Hartford) will finish the season with at least 17 wins ... Eight of the nine America East’s have better RPIs than at this time last year ... America East teams will end the regular season with 55 non-conference wins, a 15-win improvement from last season ... Six teams (Albany, Binghamton, Boston U.,Hartford, UMBC, Stony Brook) have equaled or surpassed last year’s win total ... Stony Brook is the tournament's top seed and the league's regular-season champion for the third time in four years ... The Seawolves' 23 wins are a Division I-program record ... Stony Brook has the league's best RPI (89) ... SBU is ranked 19th in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 ... Vermont is seeded No. 2, the ninth time in 11 years they've been second or better ... Hartford has its most wins and best seed (No. 3) since the 2007-08 campaign ... It's 10-league wins match its most in the 16-game format ... Albany, the No. 4 seed, has its most wins since the 2006-07 season and has never taken more victories into the league tournament ... Tommy Brenton was named a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, which is given to the nation's top mid-major player, on Feb. 24 ... Bill Herrion picked up his 153rd America East win on Wednesday and passed former Boston U. coach Dennis Wolff for the most league wins among head coaches all-time. ... Positioning is crucial as just twice in 33 seasons has a team placed lower than second in the league standings and gone on to win the title ... America East teams entered league play with 53 non-conference wins, an 18-win improvement from last season ... Albany’s Jacob Iati and Vermont’s Luke Apfeld were named to CoSIDA’s Academic All-District I team Jan. 31 ... Albany's Mike Black and Stony Brook's Anthony Jackson are nominees for the Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard ... Mike Black hit a layup with 3.2 seconds left to lift Albany to a 63-62 win at reigning Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington on Nov. 13 ... The win was America East’s 10th over a BCS-conference program since 2008 ... The conference office announced on Nov. 29 that Albany's SEFCU Arena will host the 2014 America East Basketball Championship ... America East ranked third out of 31 conferences in the NCAA’s latest APR and GSR rankings in men’s basketball.
2012-13 America East Men’s Basketball Weekly Award Winners
Nov. 12 – Player of the Week: Ryan Cook (UMBC); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Nov. 19 – Player of the Week: Jacob Iati (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Nov. 26 – Player of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 3 – Player of the Week: Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Dec. 10 – Player of the Week: Mike Black (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Dec. 17 - Player of the Week: Dave Coley (Stony Brook); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 24 - Player of the Week: Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 31 - Co-Players of the Week: Jacob Iati (Albany)/Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Jan. 7 - Co-Players of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford)/Alasdair Fraser (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 14 - Player of the Week: Sam Rowley (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 21 - Player of the Week: Clancy Rugg (Vermont); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 28 - Player of the Week: Tommy Brenton (Stony Brook); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Feb. 4 - Player of the Week: Brian Neller (UMBC); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Feb. 11 - Player of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Feb. 18 – Player of the Week: Zarko Valjarevic (Maine); Co-Rookies of the Week: Jordan Reed/Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Feb. 25 - Player of the Week: D.J. Irving (Boston U.); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
March 4 - Player of the week: Tommy Brenton (Stony Brook); Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)