Sandro Mamukelashvili of Seton Hall University was named winner of the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award on Tuesday, presented annually since 1936 to the area’s Division I men’s college Player of the Year by the Met Basketball Writers Association.

Mamukelashvili represents the 14th player and 15th time a Pirate has been named recipient of the Haggerty Award. This is the third season in a row and the fifth year in the past six that a player from Seton Hall has been named the Met area’s best. SHU’s Myles Powell won the award back-to-back in 2019-20.

A 6-11 senior forward from Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, Mamukelashvili also was named an Associated Press All-America honorable mention, the Big East player of the year and a unanimous choice on the all-conference first team, and to the NABC All-District 5 first team. He was an All-Met third team selection in 2020.

Starting all 27 games for the Pirates (14-13) this past season, Mamukelashvili led the team in scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg), along with averaging 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals. He was one of only two players in the Big East to rank in the conference’s top-five in scoring and rebounding, and one of just two to rank in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Mamukelashvili produced seven double-doubles and 13 games scoring 20 points or more. He shot 43.4% (168-of-387) from the field and scored a single game career-high 32 points along with grabbing nine rebounds in a December win over Met rival St. John's. 

Other former Haggerty Award winners from Seton Hall, in addition to Mamukelashvili and Powell: Walter Dukes, 1953; Nick Werkman, 1964; Nick Galis, 1979; Dan Callandrillo, 1982; Mark Bryant, 1988; John Morton, 1989; Terry Dehere, 1993; Arturas Karnishovas, 1994 (co-winner); Adrian Griffin, 1996; Andre Barrett, 2004 (co-winner); Isaiah Whitehead, 2016; Angel Delgado, 2017.