St. John's Shamorie Ponds Nets 85th Haggerty Award from MBWA
2018 MBWA Men's Division I Awards
FFI: Chuck Stogel, MBWA - 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com
Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
www.MetBasketballWriters.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. John's Ponds Picked as 85th Haggerty Award Winner
Named All-Met Div. I MBB Player of the Year
NEW YORK (April 25, 2018) – Shamorie Ponds of St. John’s was named the All-Met Division I men’s Haggerty Award winner on Wednesday, presented annually to the college Player of the Year by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
A 6-1 guard from Brooklyn, NY, with a potent all-around game, Ponds is the 23rd player from St. John’s to snare the Haggerty Award, which has gone to a member of the Red Storm team 27 times overall. Coincidentally, Ponds’ coach, Chris Mullin, is a three-time recipient (1983-84-85) of the Haggerty Award.
In addition to being named Player of the Year, Ponds heads up a six-player MBWA All-Met First Team that was announced earlier this week.
Having amassed 1,220 career points in two seasons at SJU, Ponds --- who was an All-Met First Team and Rookie of the Year selection last year --- collared numerous accolades during the 2017-18 season, including being named an Associated Press All-America honorable mention. Selected to the All-Big East first team, he led the conference in scoring and was 18th in the nation in Division 1 with 21.6 points per game.
Picked as Big East player of the week twice, named to the conference weekly honor roll seven times and heralded as the MBWA All-Met player of the week three times, Ponds also was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All District 5 second team.
One of the most notable weeks for Ponds, and St. John’s, had to be the first week in February when SJU defeated then No. 4 Duke 81-77 at Madison Square Garden and, four days later, upended No. 1 and eventual national champion Villanova on the road 79-75. It was the first time in 33 years that the Red Storm had beaten a top-ranked opponent and the first time in program history St. John’s defeated two top-five teams back-to-back. In the victories, Ponds scored 26 points at Villanova after pouring in 33 points at the Garden against Duke.
Ponds posted a bonanza of standout statistics this past season. He set a school scoring record for sophomores with 647 points, the 10th best single-season output in program history; ranked fourth in the Big East with 4.7 assists per game; had 70 steals overall for a 2.3 average per game, second in the conference and 11th best in the nation; was fifth in the Big East in free throw shooting at 85.7%; placed 11th in the BEC with a 1.7 assists-to-turnover ratio; led the league in playing time at 37.0 minutes per game; topped the Red Storm in scoring in 21 of 30 appearances; had 16 games with 20-plus points and six games with 30-plus. Ponds set a homecourt Carnesecca Arena/Alumni Hall scoring mark with 44 points against Marquette on Feb. 10.
In another link to the fabled university based in Jamaica, Queens, the All-Met Player of the Year award is named in memory of Lt. Frank J. Haggerty, a former co-captain who played forward for St. John’s in 1939-40 and was the first student from the school who was killed in World War II.
The 2018 All-Met men’s and women’s teams in Divisions I, II and III were honored Wednesday, April 25, at the 85th NIT/MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner at the Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, NY.
Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award Met Player of the Year: Shamorie Ponds, St. John's
Peter A. Carlesimo Coach of the Year: Tim Cluess, Iona
2018 Men's Division I All-Met Teams
View all-time Haggerty Award Winners here - Haggerty bios here.
View all Men's Division I Coaches of the Year here.
View all Men's Divsion I Rookies of the Year here.
View previous All-Met Division I Men's teams here.