League awards announced: Jamesley Jerome named to All-Rookie Team
Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2018-19 AUS men's basketball all-stars and major award winners as selected by the conference's eight head coaches following regular season play.
Fifth-year Saint Mary's guard Kemar Alleyne of Toronto, Ont., was named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player.
Other AUS major award winners announced today were Memorial's Emanuel Ring of St. John's, N.L., who was named rookie of the year; Cape Breton's Paul Watson of Mississauga, Ont., who was named defensive player of the year; Saint Mary's Brent Martindale of Kingston, Ont. who received the student-athlete community service award; and Saint Mary's head coach Jonah Taussig who was named the AUS coach of the year for the first time in his career.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Kemar Alleyne, Saint Mary's Huskies
Kemar Alleyne, a senior guard with the U SPORTS no. 5-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies, is the 2018-19 AUS men's basketball most valuable player.
A commerce student from Toronto, Alleyne led the Huskies to a 19-1 regular season record, a first-place finish in the AUS regular season standings, and a first-round playoff bye through to Saturday night's semifinals.
He averaged 14.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game for the Huskies this season.
His three-point percentage of 42.7% was the second best in the conference.
Over the course of his five years with Saint Mary's, Alleyne amassed 1,230 career points, 440 rebounds, 199 assists and 113 steals.
In addition to being named conference MVP, he was also named an AUS first team all-star today for the second consecutive season. Alleyne was also named to the AUS all-rookie team in his inaugural season in 2014-15.
He now becomes the AUS representative for the Mike Moser Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding player in U SPORTS basketball.
The last Atlantic conference player to win the national award was William Njoku of the Saint Mary's Huskies in 1992-93.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Emanuel Ring, Memorial Sea-Hawks
The 2018-19 AUS rookie of the year is Emanuel Ring from the Memorial Sea-Hawks.
A six-foot-six guard from St. John's, N.L., Ring started in all 20 of the Sea-Hawks' regular season games.
In his first year in the conference, he finished third in the AUS in points (15.8 per game), second in blocks (1.4 per game), and fifth in rebounds (7.3 per game).
Ring is the first player from the Sea-Hawks to be named AUS rookie of the year since the 2004-05 season when former Memorial standout Leonel Saintil earned the honour.
He will now represent the conference as the AUS nominee for the Dr. Peter Mullins trophy as U SPORTS rookie of the year. Saint Mary's Nikita Kasongo earned this award last season. A Memorial athlete has yet to win the national award.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Paul Watson, Cape Breton Capers
Paul Watson of the Cape Breton Capers men's basketball team is the 2018-19 AUS men's basketball defensive player of the year.
A third-year guard from Mississauga, Ont., Watson led the league in defensive rebounds per game (8.2) and finished second in steals, averaging 2.1 per game.
He finished third in total rebounds (9.3 per game), including posting a career-high 21 rebounds in Cape Breton's Jan. 16 win over StFX.
He also finished fourth in assists this season with 4.0 per game.
Watson is the third player from the Capers to be named AUS defensive player of the year and the first since former CBU standout Meshack Lufile earned the honour in 2016.
He now becomes the AUS conference nominee for the U SPORTS defensive player of the year award.
CBU's Phil Nkrumah and StFX's Garry Gallimore are the only AUS players to have been named CIS (now U SPORTS) defensive player of the year since the inception of the award in 2004-05.
COACH OF THE YEAR: Jonah Taussig, Saint Mary's Huskies
In his seventh season at the helm of the Saint Mary's program, Jonah Taussig has been selected by his peers as the AUS coach of the year.
This season, Coach Taussig's Huskies finished with a 19-1 regular season record, a first-place finish in the conference standings, and earned the bye through to the semi-final round of the AUS championship.
The Huskies led the Atlantic conference in points per game (87.5) and rebounds per game (41.3). They also allowed the fewest points against this season (72.0).
Taussig is the first Saint Mary's men's basketball coach to be named AUS coach of the year since 1993 when Coach Ross Quackenbush earned the honour.
Coach Taussig will now represent the AUS as the nominee for U SPORTS coach of the year. The only Saint Mary's head coach to earn the national honour was coach Brian Heaney in 1973.
StFX's Steve Konchalski (2000-01) is the last Atlantic conference head coach to win the Stuart W. Aberdeen Trophy as the nation's top university coach.
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Brent Martindale, Saint Mary's Huskies
Brent Martindale of the Saint Mary's Huskies is the 2019 recipient of the AUS student-athlete community service award and will be the Atlantic conference nominee for the prestigious Ken Shields Award.
A six-foot-six forward from Kingston, Ont., Martindale started in all 20 games for the Huskies this season, averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
The fourth-year criminology student is a three-time academic all-Canadian with a 4.0 GPA.
His extensive community involvement includes serving as the Saint Mary's campus lead for the Student-Athlete Mental Health Initiative (SAMHI), as well as directing and coordinating the Open Doors, Open Minds student mentorship program.
Martindale is a member of the Saint Mary's athletic council, as well as a lead basketball camp instructor for Saint Mary's youth camps.
Off campus, he has served as an assistant coach to the 2018 Basketball Nova Scotia U15 provincial team. He also volunteers for St. Andrew's United Church, serving meals for their Sunday Supper community outreach program.
Martindale has also travelled to Romania the last two summers, serving as a volunteer with the Venture2Impact program.
He is just the second player from the Saint Mary's Huskies to be honoured with the AUS student-athlete community service award. Former Huskies standout Harry Ezenibe earned the honour in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014.
Martindale now becomes the AUS nominee for the national Ken Shields award. Ezenibe is the only Saint Mary's player to win the national honour. He won following the 2013-14 season.
An AUS athlete has earned the honour in four of the past five seasons. Last season, former Tigers standout Sven Stammberger was the winner of the national Ken Shields Award.
FIRST AND SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS AND ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
The Atlantic University Sport first and second team all-stars were also announced today, along with this year's all-rookie team.
First Team All-Stars
Kemar Alleyne, Saint Mary's Huskies (5th year – Toronto, Ont.)
Ibrahima Doumbouya, UNB Reds (2nd year – Calgary, Alta.)
Osman Omar, Cape Breton Capers (2nd year – Mississauga, Ont.)
Nathan Barker, Memorial Sea-Hawks (3rd year – Massey Drive, N.L.)
Nico Brauner, Saint Mary's Huskies (3rd year – Huttenheim, Germany)
Second Team All-Stars
Alex Carson, Dalhousie Tigers (3rd year – Lower Sackville, N.S.)
Daniel Passley, StFX X-Men (5th year – Mississauga, Ont.)
Chris Spurrell, UNB Reds (3rd year – Quispamsis, N.B.)
Sascha Kappos, Dalhousie Tigers (4th year – Miami, Florida)
Paul Watson, Cape Breton Capers (3rd year – Mississauga, Ont.)
All-Rookie Team
Emanuel Ring, Memorial Sea-Hawks (St. John's, N.L.)
Eugene Kanku, Cape Breton Capers (Ottawa, Ont.)
Atik Gilao, StFX X-Men (Brampton, Ont.)
Jamesley Jerome, UPEI Panthers (Montreal, Que.)
Ibrahim Gosselin-Diawara, Cape Breton Capers (Longueuil, Que.)