The Empire 8 Conference has selected two members of the St. John Fisher College men’s basketball team to its annual All-Conference Team. Junior guard
Matt Newman received Second Team accolades, while sophomore
Ozell Franklin was an Honorable Mention selection. Freshman Issac Aragon was named as the College’s representative on the Sportsman of the Year team.
A three-year starter, Newman leads the Cardinals this season with 85 assists (3.4/game), 29 steals (1.2/game) and free throw percentage (78.1%, 75-for-96) on the year. The junior point guard also ranks second on the squad with an average of 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Newman tied a career-high with 22 points in a 75-66 loss to Empire 8-leading Ithaca College earlier this month, and recorded a new personal-best nine assists in Fisher’s most recent win over Elmira just last week en route to All-Conference honors for the first time in his career.
Franklin, who was named as the Conference Co-Rookie of the Year last season, is the team’s top scorer this season with an average of 12.7 points per outing. The sophomore is also a threat from behind the 3-point arc, and has converted a team-high 51-of-145 (35.2%) attempts. Franklinranks third on the team with 23 steals while ranking among the team leaders with 4.1 rebounds per game. An explosive scorer, Franklin reset his personal-best mark for scoring four separate times in his second year, ending the year with a new career-high 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 7-for-13 from 3-point range.
Aragon, a Rio Rancho, NM native, was named to the Sportsman of the Year team. One member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2009 Men’s Basketball Sportsman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
Fisher (16-9 overall, 8-8 Empire 8), after starting the year 14-2 struggled down the stretch and missed a berth in the Empire 8 Conference Championship for the first time in Conference history. By missing out on the Conference Tournament, the Cardinals will be denied an entrance into the NCAA Championships, marking just the first time since the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons that Fisher has missed NCAAs in back-to-back seasons. Over the past two decades, only three Division III schools have more NCAA appearances than Fisher.