Men's Basketball | 4/8/2021 9:58:34 AM
St. John Fisher College took three of four individual awards, as the Empire 8 Conference announced its 2021 Men’s Basketball All-Conference awards on Thursday, April 8. The awards are voted on by the league's head coaches.
St. John Fisher sophomore forward Daniel Cook was named the 2021 Empire 8 Player of the Year. Cook is enjoying a tremendous season for the Cardinals, as he leads all Empire 8 players in scoring and rebounding, averaging 22.6 points and 11.5 boards per contest, while shooting 59.7 percent from the floor. Cook has scored in double figures in all 11 games this season and has nine double-doubles. Cook becomes the third straight St. John Fisher student-athlete to earn E8 Player of the Year honors, joining Ryan Henderson on 2018-19 and Sammy Robinson in 2019-20. Overall, Cook is the sixth different Cardinal to garner Player of the Year accolades.
Junior guard Sean Williams of St. John Fisher was named the 2021 Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year. Williams is the catalyst for a Cardinals defense that allowed just 62.6 points per game in league play, second among all E8 teams, while Fisher out-scored opponents by 21.9 points per game in 10 E8 contests. He leads all Empire 8 players, averaging 3.0 steals per game in 2021 and paces all players with 4.6 assists per game on the offensive end.
Utica College’s Damien Call was named the E8 Rookie of the Year. Call, a versatile forward has appeared in all 10 games for the Pioneers, averaging 6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 59.5 percent from the floor. Call is the second straight Pioneer standout to earn Empire 8 Rookie of the Year honors, joining teammate Thomas Morreale. This marks the fourth time overall a Utica student-athlete has earned Rookie of the Year.
St. John Fisher head coach Mike Grosodonia and his staff were named the 2021 Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year. The Cardinals won the Empire 8 regular season title, going 10-0 in league play and enter the championship tournament as the top seed. It is St. John Fisher’s tenth E8 Coaching Staff of the Year honor and first since 2016-17.
Brendan Trapper joined Cook on the first team for St. John Fisher. A junior forward, Trapper is averaging 19.5 points per game, while shooting 57 percent from the floor. Morreale, the 2019-20 E8 Rookie of the Year also garnered first team accolades. He is averaging 11.8 points per game, while shooting 56.4 percent from the floor for a deep Pioneers squad. Senior Stephen Gabel of Nazareth and junior Jalon Borders of Russell Sage College both earned All-Empire 8 first team honors for the second straight year. Gabel is averaging 16.9 points, 6.5 assists and 3.1 assists per game, while shooting 51 percent from the floor for the Golden Flyers. Borders is averaging 15.3 points, 5.6 boards, 3.3 assists and 1.7 assists per contest for the Gators in 2021, while shooting 88 percent from the foul line.
Top-seeded St. John Fisher will host No. 4 seed Russell Sage at 6 p.m. in one semifinal, while No. 2 seed Utica is set to host No. 3 seed Nazareth in the second semifinal at 5:30 p.m. on April 9. The two semifinal winners will meet for 2021 Empire 8 Championship on Sunday, April 11 at the highest remaining seed.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2021 Spring Men's Basketball Sportsman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
2021 Empire 8 Spring Men’s Basketball All-Conference Selections
Player of the Year: Daniel Cook, So., F, St. John Fisher
Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Williams, Jr., G, St. John Fisher
Rookie of the Year: Damien Call, Fr., F, Utica
Coaching Staff of the Year: St. John Fisher, led by Head Coach Mike Grosodonia
Empire 8 First Team
Stephen Gabel, Sr., G, Nazareth
Jalon Borders, Jr., G, Russell Sage
Daniel Cook, So., F, St. John Fisher
Brendan Trapper, Jr., F, St. John Fisher
Thomas Morreale, So., F, Utica
Empire 8 Second Team
Brewster Marshall, Jr., F, Alfred
Mike Schmidt, So., G, Alfred
Zach Stenglein, Jr., G, Nazareth
Darius Hopkins, Jr., G, Utica
Chris Green, Jr., G, Utica
Empire 8 Third Team
Jordan Holmes, Sr., G, Houghton
Jonathan Park, Jr., F, Nazareth
Amani Cummings, Jr., G, Russell Sage
Sean Williams, Jr., G, St. John Fisher
Kobe Lufkin, Sr., G, Utica
Empire 8 Sportsman of the Year
Anthony Ruffino, Jr., G, Alfred
Joe Amoddio, Sr., F, Elmira
Darren Clark, Jr., G, Houghton
D.J Billings, Jr., G, Keuka
Issac Nelson, Sr., G, Nazareth
Stuart Phair, Jr., C, Russell Sage
Mark Valeriani, Sr., G, St. John Fisher
DJ Harter, So., G, Utica
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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