Aaron Estrada of Hofstra University has been selected the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award winner for 2022-23 as announced Thursday by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association.

Presented annually since 1936 by the MBWA, the Haggerty Award denotes the area’s Division I Men’s Player of the Year. The Met realm encompasses 21 Division I programs, and 69 colleges and universities across all divisions.

Estrada, who also was named to the All-Met First Team, will be honored along with the All-Met teams from Divisions I, II and III at the 90th MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, NY. The Haggerty dinner is the longest running, media-managed college basketball awards program in the United States.

A 6-3 senior guard from Woodbury, NJ, Estrada is the sixth player from Hofstra to earn the Haggerty Award. It also is the eighth time overall that a member of the Pride has been so honored. In addition to winning the Haggerty accolade, Estrada also was selected the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year for a second consecutive year and was chosen on the NABC All-District 10 First Team.

One of only three players in the nation to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists per game, Estrada scored 1,219 points in his two seasons at Hofstra, including a CAA-leading 626 points in 2022-23. Overall collegiately, he has totaled 1,474 points, including 227 at Saint Peter’s in 2019-20 and 28 in a short stint at Oregon (2020-21).

Estrada averaged 20.2 points this past season (2nd CAA, No. 22 NCAA) in helping the Pride (25-10, 16-2 CAA) capture the conference regular season title and advance to the National Invitation Tournament. He also had 5.5 rebounds per game; 132 assists for a 4.3 average (5th in CAA); and 47 steals. He shot 47.8% from the field (3rd in CAA) and 80.9% at the free throw line.

In January, Estrada posted a single-game career-high 40 points at Elon, featuring eight 3-point goals. For the season, he scored in double figures in 29 of 31 games played, including 16 contests with 20 or more points and four games with 30+ points.

In addition to Estrada, other Haggerty Award winners from Hofstra include: Bill Thieben, 1956; Rich Laurel, 1977; Speedy Claxton (current Pride head coach), 2000; Norm Richardson, 2001; three-time winner Charles Jenkins, 2009-10-11.

The Haggerty Award arguably is the oldest and most prestigious honor given to a Met area college basketball player. The award is named in memory of Lt. Frank J. Haggerty, a shortstop in baseball and co-captain/forward on the basketball team who was the first student from St. John’s killed in World War II.