West Babylon, N.Y. – The East Coast Conference released its men’s basketball All-Conference honorees on Friday, with Molloy’s Darren Fergus (Freeport, N.Y.) leading the way as the league’s Player of the Year. Queens’ Tyler Carey (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and St. Thomas Aquinas’ James Patterson (Richmond, Va.) also earned top honors, with Carey being named the Defensive Player of the Year and Patterson earning the Rookie of the Year honor.
Fergus, now a two-time All-Conference First Team honoree, was the selection as the league’s top player after stuffing the stats sheet for the Lions with 20.5 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game, and 2.0 steals per game. His points per game total led the ECC and ranked 26th nationally, while his rebounds, assists, and steals per game marks were among the top five in the conference. Fergus also led the league in made field goals (194), made free throws (151), points (575), and steals (57) all while playing an ECC-best 36:23 minutes per game.
Carey earns the title of the conference’s best defender after being a menacing presence in the paint. The senior led the conference and ranked fourth in all of Division II with 78 blocks and 2.79 blocks per game. Carey finished with 9.2 rebounds per game, as well, good for second in the ECC and 25th nationally.
Patterson was a six-time ECC Rookie of the Week honoree while averaging 14.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game to help St. Thomas Aquinas finish first in the ECC. As with the other honorees, Patterson’s name is littered throughout the ECC leaderboard. He ranks in the top 10 in the conference in points per game (8th), rebounds per game (9th), field goals (128 – 6th), steals (45 – 5th)
In his first season as head coach, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Matt Capell has been selected as the ECC Coach of the Year by his peers. Capell guided the Spartans to a 24-4 overall and 15-1 in ECC play to earn a Regular Season Championship and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. While this is the first time he’s earned the ECC Coach of the Year honor in basketball, it is the third such award of his career after previously winning the honor as the Spartans’ men’s tennis (2019) and women’s tennis (2021) head coach.
The ECC also announced its Men's Basketball All-Conference teams on Friday. Fergus and Patterson are joined on the First Team by Joey Atkins (Sr., G/F, Daemen), DeVante Jamison (Jr., G, St. Thomas Aquinas), Messiah Mallory (So., F, Staten Island), and Jahmir Marable-Williams (Sr., G, Dist. Columbia).
All-Conference Second Team honorees are Carey, Michael Aiken (So., G, Dist. Columbia), Dylan Fasoyiro (Jr., G, Daemen), Willie Kondrat (Gr.,G/ F, D’Youville), and William Muller (Sr., F, Molloy).
Jayden Dewaal (Jr., F/C, Mercy), Sunnie Diamond (So., G, Queens), Nick MacDonald (Sr., G, Daemen), Andrew Mason (Jr., G, Daemen), and Ja’Kair Sanchez (Jr., G/F, Roberts Wesleyan) round out the honorees as Third Team selections.
2022-2023 ECC Men’s Basketball All-Conference
First Team
Joey Atkins, Daemen
Darren Fergus, Molloy
DeVante Jamison, St. Thomas Aquinas
Messiah Mallory, Staten Island
Jahmir Marable-Williams, Dist. Columbia
James Patterson, St. Thomas Aquinas
Second Team
Michael Aiken, Dist. Columbia
Tyler Carey, Queens
Dylan Fasoyiro, Daemen
Willie Kondrat, D'Youville
William Muller, Molloy
Third Team
Jayden Dewaal, Mercy
Sunnie Diamond, Queens
Nick MacDonald, Daemen
Andrew Mason, Daemen
Ja'Kair Sanchez, Roberts Wesleyan
Player of the Year: Darren Fergus, So., G. Molloy
Defensive Player of the Year: Tyler Carey, Sr., C, Queens
Rookie of the Year: James Patterson, Fr., F, St. Thomas Aquinas
Coach of the Year: Matt Capell, St. Thomas Aquinas
