Portions courtesy of Cornell Athletic Communications, Dartmouth Varsity Athletics Communications, Harvard Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The regular season turned to awards season for Ivy League men's basketball as 2014-15 honors were doled out following a vote of the conference's eight head coaches.
Yale junior forward Justin Sears was named Player of the Year, Dartmouth freshman guard Miles Wright was named Rookie of the Year, Harvard senior forward Steve Moundou-Missi was selected Defensive Player of the Year and Yale head coach James Jones took home the inaugural Coach of the Year honor.
Sears becomes the first Bulldog to be chosen Ivy League Player of the Year since Paul Maley in 1987-88 and just the second Yale player ever to receive the honor since the award began following the 1974-75 season. The Plainfield, N.J., native earned his second-straight recognition on the All-Ivy first team, headlining a quintet of unanimous selections. He is in the League's top five in several categories, including scoring (fourth, 14.4 ppg), rebounding (third, 7.6 rpg), blocks (second, 2.4 bpg) and field goal percentage (fifth, .507). In conference games, Sears posted even more impressive numbers, averaging 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 56.0 percent from the field.
Wright (Boston) is Dartmouth's first Rookie of the Year since Leon Pattman took home the honor after the 2003-04 season. This is also the first year the Big Green have had more than one player on either the first or second team for All-Ivy since Greg Buth and Shaun Gee were selected for the second team in 1999-2000. He played in all 28 games in his freshman campaign, starting 23, while averaging 7.7 points and 2.9 rebounds a game as he shot 43.0 percent from the floor and 35.6 percent from behind the arc with 26 three-pointers. As the season wore on, Wright's performance improved, particularly in Ivy League contests during which he scored 9.6 points a night finishing among the top 10 in steals (24, first), three-point field goal percentage (.429, fifth) and field goal percentage (.457, 10th).
With Moundou-Missi (Yaounde, Cameroon) at the center of Harvard's defense, the Crimson ranks first in the Ancient Eight in points allowed (57.5), second in opponent field goal percentage (38.9), and third in rebounds (34.8). In conference play, meanwhile, Moundou-Missi and his backline counterparts allowed just 20.2 points per game in the paint. The second-team All-Ivy selection stands as one of the top rim protectors in the conference. Active on both ends of the floor, he contributed to a career-high 43 blocks in the post, while displaying quickness and athleticism to cover smaller players past the three-point line.
Jones, in his 16th season roaming the sidelines in New Haven, led Yale to its fifth Ivy title and sixth 20-win season in school history. His Bulldogs meet Harvard on Saturday, March 14 at The Palestra in Philadelphia to determine which team gets the League's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
There were no question in the other four players joining Sears with first-team All-Ivy honors, starting with teammate and senior guard Javier Duren (St. Louis). Sears and Duren are the first Yale duo to earn first-team nods since Ed Petersen and Casey Cammann in 1991-92. He is fifth in the League in scoring (14.0 ppg), third in assists (4.0 apg), seventh in steals (1.3 spg) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4).
Columbia junior guard Maodo Lo (Berlin) gives Columbia a first-team All-Ivy selection for the fourth time in five years. He started all 28 games for the Lions and reached double-figures in 25 of those contests, including 13 20-point performances and a trio of 30-point games. He averaged 19.6 points in Ivy League contests and 26 points in his final six games of the year. Lo buried 11 three-pointers to set a new Ivy League record en route to scoring 37 points at Princeton on March 7. The point total not only established a career-high, but also the most points scored by an Ivy Leaguer in four seasons.
Cornell senior forward Shonn Miller (Euclid, Ohio) came back from a season-long injury a year ago to earn his second first-team All-Ivy honor. He became the fifth Big Red player to earn first-team All-Ivy honors at least twice, joining Bob DeLuca (1965-66), John Bajusz (1985-86-87), Louis Dale (2008-09-10) and Ryan Wittman (2008-09-10). Miller ranked second in the Ivy League in scoring (16.8 ppg.), rebounding (8.5 rpg.) and free-throw percentage (.834) and among the top 10 in blocks (fourth, 1.8) and steals (eighth, 1.3). The conference's leader in defensive rebounds, he ranks sixth nationally (7.53 per game). Overall, he ranks in the top 100 nationally in 11 different categories.
Harvard senior guard/forward Wesley Saunders (Los Angeles) joins Don Flemming as only the Harvard player in program history to be named to first-team All-Ivy in three-straight years. He closed the regular season among the conference leaders in eight statistical categories: scoring (third, 16.1 ppg), rebounding (eighth, 6.2 rpg), assists (second, 4.3 apg), steals (first, 1.9 spg), assist-to-turnover ratio (sixth, 1.6), offensive rebounds (10th, 1.7 per game), defensive rebounds (seventh, 4.5 per game) and minutes (fourth, 34.1 per game).
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Justin Sears, Yale (Jr., F - Plainfield, N.J.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Miles Wright, Dartmouth (Fr., G - Boston)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Steve Moundou-Missi, Harvard (Sr., F - Yaounde, Cameroon)
COACH OF THE YEAR
James Jones, Yale
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
*Maodo Lo, Columbia (Jr., G - Berlin)
*Shonn Miller, Cornell (Sr., F - Euclid, Ohio)
*Wesley Saunders, Harvard (Sr., G/F - Los Angeles)
*Javier Duren, Yale (Sr., G - St. Louis)
*Justin Sears, Yale (Jr., F - Plainfield, N.J.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY^
Cedric Kuakumensah, Brown (Jr., F - Worcester, Mass.)
Gabas Maldunas, Dartmouth (Sr., C - Panevezys, Lithuania)
Alex Mitola, Dartmouth (Jr., G - Florham Park, N.J.)
Siyani Chambers, Harvard (Jr., G - Golden Valley, Minn.)
Steve Moundou-Missi, Harvard (Sr., F - Yaounde, Cameroon)
Steve Cook, Princeton (So., F - Winnetka, Ill.)
Spencer Weisz, Princeton (So., F - Florham Park, N.J.)
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Rafael Maia, Brown (Sr., F - Sao Paulo)
Tony Hicks, Penn (Jr., G - South Holland, Ill.)
*Unanimous Selection
^Second team expanded from five players due to ties in voting