New England Small College Athletic Conference

Men's Basketball All-NESCAC Teams Released

3/2/2011 12:00:00 AM

Williams’ Whittington Grabs Top Honors

HADLEY, Mass. – Williams senior center Troy Whittington (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has been named the NESCAC Player of the Year, as determined by the conference coaches. In the midst of a spectacular season on the court, Whittington helped the Ephs achieve an undefeated mark in conference play and a 25-2 overall record heading into this weekend's NCAA Tournament action. He is the fifth player from Williams to earn the league's top honor, joining former teammate Blake Schultz, who earned the award in his final season with the Ephs a year ago.

Whittington has enjoyed a career year during his senior campaign with the Ephs as he ranks among the top five in the NESCAC in both points and rebounds, averaging 17.2 points and 9.3 rebounds while also chipping in 2.1 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. Whittington's ability to score can be directly attributed to his consistent shooting, making an astonishing .724 percent of the shots he takes - a figure which is tops in the nation. On three separate occasions this season Whittington shattered his own record for points in a game, most recently pouring in 31 during a 79-69 win over Trinity in the semifinals of the NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship. He also recorded 11 double-doubles, including a personal-best 21 rebounds and 21 points in a 79-56 victory over Hamilton on Dec. 7. In addition to being named Player of the Year, Whittington received All-NESCAC First Team recognition a year after earning a spot on the Second Team.

Along with Whittington on the First Team was teammate James Wang (Sydney, Australia), as Williams was the only squad to have two representatives on the All-Conference First Team. The prolific Wang is a threat to score from anywhere on the floor, a fact he has proven time-and-again throughout the season as he has made .505 percent of his shots from the floor, .455 from three-point range, and .850 from the foul line. The junior guard is averaging a team-leading and career-high 18.3 points per contest, a figure that puts him third among conference shooters in scoring entering this weekend's NCAA action. Starting every game so far this season, the repeat First Team honoree has posted double-figures in scoring in all but three of the Ephs' 27 outings. Wang dropped a career-best 33 points during a 74-70 win against rival Amherst on Feb. 12, a victory which gave the Ephs the top seed in this year's NESCAC tournament.

Junior forward Ryan Sharry (Braintree, Mass.) from the NESCAC champion Middlebury Panthers was promoted from last year's Second Team to this year's First Team. Sharry is just one of three players in the conference, all of whom earned All-NESCAC in some form this season, to average a double-double. Sharry paces the Panthers in both points and rebounds for the second-straight year, averaging a career-high 13.8 (8th NESCAC) and 10.4 (3rd), respectively, on .527 percent shooting.

Senior guard Conor Meehan (Meriden, Conn.) of Amherst and junior forward Will Hanley (New Canaan, Conn.) of Bowdoin each earned All-Conference honors for the first time with their selection to the First Team. Meehan heads up the offense for the 22-3 Lord Jeffs, scoring 13.2 points per game and owning a 2.17 assist-to-turnover ratio, the second-best figure in the league. Hanley became the first Polar Bear in 16 years to average a double-double in a single season, recording 14 in all during the 2010-11 campaign. Hanley's 19.8 points per game put him first in the NESCAC, while his 11.3 rebounds rank second.

Amherst freshman phenom Aaron Toomey (Greensboro, N.C.) came away as the NESCAC Rookie of the Year. A first option off the bench nearly all season, Toomey is currently second to Meehan among the Jeffs in scoring with 12.0 points per game. He has also contributed 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while hitting .427 percent of the shots he takes.

Defensive Player of the Year went to Middlebury senior center Andrew Locke (Seattle, Wash.). Locke, who was also chosen as a member of the All-Conference Second Team, anchors a defense that holds opponents to a league-low 56.7 points per game and a .345 shooting percentage. The program's all-time blocks leader, Locke is currently fourth in the nation with an average 4.0 blocks per game. During Saturday's 67-61 semifinal decision over Amherst, a game in which the Panthers overcame an 18-point deficit to win, Locke set a tournament record with seven blocks. He has also contributed to the offense this season, ranking second among his teammates with 10.3 points per game over 23 appearances and had a rare triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks in a win at Colby-Sawyer on Jan. 6.

For the second time in three years, Middlebury head coach Jeff Brown was recognized by his counterparts as the league's Coach of the Year. In his 14th season with the Panthers and 17th in the NESCAC, Brown's squad earned its second conference crown this past weekend at Williams, tied the program record for wins in a single season (25) which was set last winter, and reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row.

2010-11 NESCAC Men's Basketball All-Conference
	First Team	Institution	Yr.	Hometown
G	Conor Meehan	Amherst	Sr.	Meriden, Conn.
G	James Wang	Williams	Jr.	Sydney Australia
F	Will Hanley	Bowdoin	Jr.	New Canaan, Conn.
F	Ryan Sharry	Middlebury	Jr.	Braintree, Mass.
C	Troy Whittington	Williams	Sr.	Brooklyn, N.Y.
	Second Team	Institution	Yr.	Hometown
G	Shasha Brown	Wesleyan	So.	New York, N.Y.
F	Brian Ellis	Bates	Sr.	Braintree, Mass.
F	Luke MacDougall	Trinity	Sr.	Baldwinsville, N.Y.
F	Mike Russell	Colby	Sr.	Wellesley, Mass.
C	Andrew Locke	Middlebury	Sr.	Seattle, Wash.
	Player of the Year
C	Troy Whittington	Williams	Sr.	Brooklyn, N.Y.
	Defensive Player of the Year
C	Andrew Locke	Middlebury	Sr.	Seattle, Wash.
	Rookie of the Year
G	Aaron Toomey	Amherst	Fr.	Greensboro, N.C.
	Coach of the Year
	Jeff Brown	Middlebury