PSAC West awards were announced yesterday and three of the four individual awards came from Gannon’s squad, which finished first in the West this season. Adam Blazek headlined the awards, taking home Athlete of the Year honors. CJ Oldham was named the West’s Defensive Athlete of the Year and Gannon’s coach John Reilly was named West Coach of the Year. The other individual award, Freshman of the Year, went to Clarion’s BJ Andrews.
Blazek averaged 16.1 points per game this season and is coming off of a 25-point game after his team downed Slippery Rock in the PSAC Tournament quarterfinals. The junior also shot 41.5 percent from 3-point range and a league-high 83.7 percent from the foul line. Blazek wins the award just two seasons after being named PSAC West Freshman of the Year and is the first player from Gannon to be given the award since the team joined the PSAC in 2008. In addition to the award, Blazek was named first-team All-PSAC West.
Oldham is also the first player from Gannon to win Defensive Athlete of the Year in the three years the award has been handed out. Oldham was generally assigned to guard the other team’s biggest scoring threat and helped lead Gannon in being the second stingiest defense in the league, the Golden Knights only giving up 59.8 points per game. Individually, Oldham had 19 steals and 10 blocks for the season. Oldham was also named
Reilly, who is in his ninth season with Gannon, receives the Coach of the Year award for the second straight season. His Golden Knights finished 18-8 for the regular season after starting out 6-7. This season Gannon went 13-3 in conference play, securing the PSAC West title for the first time since 2009.
Andrews averaged 8.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists for Clarion this season as a freshman to bring home Freshman of the Year honors. Andrews becomes the first player from Clarion to win a major award in the PSAC since 2005 and the first Golden Eagle to win Freshman of the Year since 2000.
First-team All-PSAC selections included Blazek, Malachi Leonard (Seton Hill), Maurice Lewis-Briggs (Slippery Rock), Mathis Keita (IUP), Marcel Souberbielle (IUP) and Bryan Theriot (Edinboro).
Second-team selections include Devante Chance (IUP), Raphell Thomas-Edwards (Gannon), Mike Kromka (Clarion), Jonathon Ouegnin (Mercyhurst), Tabari Perry (Slippery Rock) and Ian Vescovi (Pitt-Johnstown).
The PSAC Tournament will resume tomorrow when the semi-finals kick off. Gannon will play West Chester and Mercyhurst will play East Stroudsburg. The finals will be on Sunday.
Photo Credit: Gannon Athletics
