Men's Basketball | 2/22/2024 9:58:16 AM
St. John Fisher College fifth-year forward Daniel Cook was named Player of the Year for the fourth straight year and garnered Defensive Player of the Year honors, as the Empire 8 Conference announced its 2023-24 Men’s Basketball All-Conference awards on Thursday, February 22. The awards are voted on by the league's head coaches.
Regular season champion Utica College, led by head coach Sean Coffey earned its third straight Coaching Staff of the Year honor, while Hartwick College freshman forward Henry Perkins was named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year.
Cook is enjoying another banner season for the Cardinals, as he leads all Empire 8 players in scoring, averaging 20.5 points per game and is second in rebounding, averaging 9.4 boards to go along with 3.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per contest, while shooting 54.6 percent from the floor, second highest in the league. Cook has scored in double figures in 25 of 26 games played this season and has nine double-doubles. It is the sixth straight season that a St. John Fisher student-athlete has earned E8 Player of the Year honors. Cook is the first four-time Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and recently surpassed 2,000 points in his collegiate career. In four seasons at St. John Fisher, Cook has 1,901 points, third most in E8 history and 931 rebounds, fourth most.
Perkins, a native of Albany, NY and Green Charter Tech High School earned E8 Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 8.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.4 percent from the field. In league play, Perkins shot 60 percent from the floor and averaged 10.1 points and 7.9 boards per contest. Perkins, a three-time Empire 8 Rookie of the Week, recorded four double-doubles, including a 16-point, 15-rebound (12 offensive) performance at Elmira on Feb. 9. He is Hartwick’s sixth Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in program history.
Utica head coach Sean Coffey and his staff was named the 2023-24 Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year for the third straight season. The Pioneers won the Empire 8 regular season title, finishing 15-1 in league play and enter the championship tournament as the top seed. Coffey and the Pioneers are 47-3 in E8 play over the last three seasons. Utica is regionally ranked and has a 22-3 record entering the tournament. The Pioneers are attempting to win their second E8 title in the last four seasons and earn their second straight NCAA Tournament berth. It is Utica’s fourth E8 Coaching Staff of the Year honor.
Cook, along with Devin Milton of Keuka College, Logan Blankenburg of Nazareth University and Justice Brantley and Damien Call of Utica garnered All-Empire 8 first team accolades. Brantley earned All-Empire 8 honors for the second straight season and is averaging 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds, while dishing out 2.2 assists per game. Call, the 2021 E8 Rookie of the Year, leads the Empire 8 in field goal percentage, at 60.2 percent, while averaging 14.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Blankenburg, an All-E8 third team selection in 2022-23, is averaging 17.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 45 percent from 3-point range. Milton, previously a two-time All-E8 selection, broke Keuka’s all-time career scoring record on Feb. 17 and averaged 18.8 points per game this season, third-best in the E8. He finished his career with 1,578 points.
Semifinal action is set for the 2024 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship. Top-seed Utica will take on No. 5 seed Alfred University on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in one semifinal, while No. 2 seed Nazareth will host No. 3 seed St. John Fisher in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. The two semifinal winners will meet for 2024 Empire 8 Championship at the site of the highest remaining seed on Saturday, Feb. 24. The Empire 8 Champion receives an automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2023-24 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.
2023-24 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball All-Conference Selections
Player of the Year: Daniel Cook, Sr., F, St. John Fisher
Defensive Player of the Year: Daniel Cook, Sr., F, St. John Fisher
Rookie of the Year: Henry Perkins, Fr., F, Hartwick
Coaching Staff of the Year: Utica, led by Head Coach Sean Coffey
Empire 8 First Team
Devin Milton, Gr., G, Keuka (Opelousas, LA/Beau Chene)
Logan Blankenburg, Gr., G, Nazareth (Ontario, NY/Wayne)
Daniel Cook, Sr., F, St. John Fisher (Honeoye Falls, NY/Pittsford Mendon)
Justice Brantley, Gr., G, Utica (Catskill, NY/Catskill)
Damien Call, So., F, Utica (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy)
Empire 8 Second Team
Franlys Valenzuela, So., F, Alfred (Santiago de los Cabelleros, Dominican Republic/San Ysidro)
Jajuan Preaster, Sr., G/F, Houghton (Orlando, FL/Central Florida Christian)
Jordan Haggard, Gr., G, Nazareth (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post)
Jaylen Savage, So., G, Nazareth (Elmsford, NY/Alexander Hamilton)
Christian Sage, Sr., G, Keuka (Owego, NY/Owego Free Academy)
Empire 8 Third Team
Adam Enders, Gr., G, Alfred (Belfast, NY/Belfast)
Tyler Cardello, So., F, Elmira (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain)
Preston Thomas, Jr., G, Houghton (Wathena, KS/Princeton)
Noah Girard, Jr., G, Russell Sage (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls)
Brendan McRoy, So., G, St. John Fisher (Fall River, NY/ISA Academy)
Empire 8 Sportsman of the Year
Oscar Wolter, Jr., F, Alfred (Munich, Germany/Lycee Jean Renoir)
Marc Anthony Artuz, Jr., F, Elmira (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian)
Shea Barber, So., G, Hartwick (Wells Bridge, NY/Unatego)
Luke Cole, Sr., F, Houghton (Houghton, NY/Fillmore)
Ezeke Pulliam, Jr., G, Keuka (Altamont, NY/Berne-Knox-Westerloo)
Jack Broderick, Jr., F, Nazareth (Fulton, NY/Fulton)
Marcus Gentile, Jr., G, Russell Sage (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem)
Conor Recore, Sr., F, St. John Fisher (Morrsonville, NY/Saranac)
Neurda Perdomo, So., G, Utica (New York, NY/Kimball Union Academy)
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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