March 14, 2012

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- Western Connecticut State University senior guard DaQuan Brooks (Atlanta, Ga.) was named the 2012 National Coaches Association of Basketball Division III Men's Basketball Northeast All-District Player of the Year, while Eastern Connecticut State University boss Bill Geitner was selected as the Coach of the Year this afternoon. Brooks also earned a spot on the first-team, while Warrior senior guard Nick Nedwick (Irvington, N.Y.) was selected to the second-team.

Brooks is making his third consecutive appearance on the NABC Northeast All-District team. The senior from Atlanta, Ga. was also named the 2012 Little East Player of the Year, becoming the first student-athlete to win the prestigous award three times in his career. The 2009 Little East Rookie of the Year became the first men's basketball player in Colonial history to eclipse the 2,000-career point mark this season (2,195), achieving the milestone against Connecticut College on Jan. 31, 2012. The three-time All-Little East, first-team selection is currently the Western Connecticut all-time leader in assists (458), while ranking second in 3-point field goals made (271) and fourth in steals (181). Brooks also established a new standard for single-season points with 700 this season, while ranking third in assists (157).

A starter in each of his 28 appearances, Brooks is currently second in the nation in scoring (29.1 points per game) and seventh in 3-point field goals per game (3.6). He reached double digits in the scoring column in each of his 28 games, including registering at least 30 points 13 times. A prolific scorer, Brooks produced a season-high 52 points, including 17 field goals made, to become the second highest single-game scorer in a NCAA Division III Tournament contest against No. 25 Christopher Newport on March 2.
He averaged 28.2 points per game against conference opponents, including a season-high 48 points against Eastern Connecticut on Feb. 7, 2012. Brooks recorded a pair of double-doubles on the campaign, most recently against then-No. 23 Rhode Island College in the semifinal round of the Little East Championship by producing 41 points and 12 rebounds. He handed out a season-high 15 helpers against Plymouth State in Western Connecticut's regular-season finale. Brooks was named to the D3Hoops.com National Team of the Week twice on the season, while earning Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Player of the Week honors three times.

Nedwick has become the second Eastern Connecticut player in program history – first in 19 seasons -- to be selected to the NABC All-Northeast District Team. A four-year starter, Nedwick led the Warriors this season in scoring (17.3) for the third straight year and finished as the all-time leading scorer in the program's 72-year history with 1,657 points (14.4 ppg.). He is also third all-time in steals (206), fifth in assists (340), and fifth in three-point field goals (133). He also grabbed more than 400 rebounds in his career, totaling 407 for an average of 3.6.

In addition to garnering All-LEC first-team honors this past year for the third straight time, Nedwick was named to the LEC All-Defensive Team for the fourth straight season (he was LEC Defensive Player-of-the-Year as both a sophomore and junior). After missing two games with an ankle sprain in late January, Nedwick later averaged 20.6 points, 3.8 rebounds 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals and shot 76.5 percent from the foul line in two Little East tournament and three NCAA tournament games. In the final game of his career, he scored a season-high 31 points, tallying the team's final 15 and 17 of its last 20 points of the season over the last four minutes this past Friday night in a 72-65 loss to eventual Final Four qualifier Cabrini College at Middlebury, VT in the opening round of the sectional tournament. Nedwick recorded the top three and four of the top six scoring games of the season, capped by his 31-point effort in the final game of his career. It was the second 30-plus point game of his career, trailing only his 36-point outburst on January1 9 of his sophomore season in a 91-86 LEC home win over Keene State College.

In addition to leading the club in scoring, the team tri-captain performed the difficult feat of also topping the team in assists (3.5) and was the steal leader as well with a 1.8 average. Nedwick was second with 31 three-pointers and first in free throws made (108) and attempted (149) and among players with at least 50 free throws made, showed a team-best 72.5 percentage. He finished 15 points shy of his second straight 500-point season, averaged 3.9 rebounds and in his final two seasons, totaled nearly 200 assists.

This year, Nedwick found double figures in all 28 games in which he appeared, In an LEC semifinal win over Keene, he poured in 27 points but made the pass of the season which set up Chris Robitaille's game-tying layup which forced a second overtime in an eventual 81-76 double overtime verdict which virtually assured the Warriors of an NCAA berth. Nedwick's additional season highs this year included eight rebounds in a one-point loss at Wesleyan University, seven assists in a 13-point home win over UMass Boston, and five steals in a 14-point triumph at the University of Southern Maine.

Nedwick broke Rich Vega's ten-year career scoring record of 1,593 points in the final home game of his career when he sank the first of two free throws with 2:52 left in the 82-60 LEC championship game victory over two-time defending champ Rhode Island College.

Nedwick becomes only the program's second player since the award was instituted in 1950 to earn NABC All-Northeast District accolades, following first-team selection Rossie Covington in 1992/93. A 6-foot-2 inch center, Covington averaged 20.2 points and 7.4 rebounds with a 56.6 field goal percentage in leading the Warriors to their only berth in the NCAA Elite 8 in 1992/93 and a final record of 21-7. That year, three of the five first-team all-district selections came from Little East institutions.

Under Geitner, Eastern posted its third straight 20-win season this year, finishing with a program-record 24 victories against six losses, winning an LEC regular-season record 11 games, claiming its first LEC regular-season title and its first LEC tournament championship since 1999/00. The Warriors advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 for the third time – first since 1992/93 – by defeating Medaille College and host SUNY Oswego in regional play.

This year's team success was predicated on defense, as the Warriors led the conference in scoring defense (59.7), three-point FG percentage defense (29.9), rebounding defense (26.0), and turnover margin (1.83) and was second in FG percentage defense (40.8).. The team also led all conference teams with a 12.9 scoring margin.

Eastern won 13 straight games this year and its first seven conference contests and never lost as many as two in a row. The Warriors carried a seven-game winning streak into the sectional opener and finished the season with a record of 13-4 away from Geissler Gymnasium.

Geitner led Eastern to its first LEC regular-season title after being picked to finish in a tie for fourth in the eight-team loop. For this, he was named LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the second time in three seasons.

In the last three seasons under Geitner, Eastern has compiled an overall record of 65-26 (71.4 winning percentage) and a regular-season LEC slate of 30-12. The team's overall winning percentage of 80.0 percent this year is fourth-best in program history – the best since 1968/69 (21-4/84.0).

2012 NABC Men's Basketball Northeast Teams
First Team
Ray Askew	Senior	Forward	Albertus Magnus
Alex Berthiaume	Junior	Guard	Springfield College
DaQuan Brooks	Senior	Guard	Western Connecticut
Brian Clark	Senior	Forward	Salem State University
Ryan Sharry	Senior	Forward	Middlebury College
Aaron Toomey	Sophomore	Guard	Amherst College
Second Team
Shasha Brown	Junior	Guard	Wesleyan College (Conn.)
Terrance Favors	Senior	Guard	Becker College
Will Hanley	Senior	Forward	Bowdoin College
Noel Hollingsworth	Senior	Center	MIT
Nick Nedwick	Senior	Guard	Eastern Connecticut
Player of the Year
DaQuan Brooks, Western Connecticut State University
Coach of the Year
Bill Geitner, Eastern Connecticut State University