NEW YORK (April 11, 2024) – James Patterson of St. Thomas Aquinas College has been named the All-Met Division II men’s college basketball Player of the Year for 2023-24 as announced Thursday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
Second-year head coach Matt Capell of St. Thomas Aquinas College was named MBWA Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season.
The rest of the All-Met First Team: Tray Alexander and Bryan Powell, Pace; Darnell Evans, Caldwell; Messiah Mallory, Staten Island; Dayshaun Walton, Adelphi.
The All-Met Second Team: Jaylen Colon, Felician; Al Fatir Connor, Bloomfield; Sunnie Diamond, Queens; Elijah Lewis, Adelphi; Bryce Waterman, Staten Island.
The 2023-24 All-Met teams will be honored at the 91st MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner on Thursday, April 18, 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 6-7 sophomore guard-forward from Richmond, VA, Patterson --- who also was named the East Coast Conference player of the year, along with selection to the NABC All-America First Team and D2CCA All-America Second Team --- led the Spartans (25-6, 14-2 ECC) to the conference tournament championship and into the NCAA Tournament.
An All-Met Second Team selection in 2023, Patterson this season led STAC with 23.9 points per game (No. 1 ECC, No. 4 in the nation); 743 total points (No. 1 ECC, No. 5 NCAA); 8.5 rebounds (No. 3 ECC, No. 38 Division II); and 57 total steals (No. 1 ECC, No. 40 NCAA). He shot 44.9% overall from the field, 35.9% from 3-point distance and 79.1% at the free throw line.
Patterson, who has surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in scoring in two seasons and now has 1,174, represents the 11th time a Spartan has been named MBWA Division II men’s player of the year.
Capell, who also is an Assistant Athletic Director at St. Thomas Aquinas, assumed the men’s head basketball reins for 2022-23 after serving as an assistant and then associate head coach for the previous nine years. He guided STAC this season (25-6, 14-2 ECC) to a fourth straight ECC regular season title (seventh in the past 10 seasons), fifth straight ECC Tournament crown (eighth in nine years) and a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament for a ninth straight occasion. His two-season record as a head coach is 29-3 in the ECC and 51-11 overall (.823%).
St. Thomas Aquinas defeated Roberts Wesleyan this season in an ECC semifinal and then beat Daemen in the ECC championship game. The Spartans lost to Post in the NCAA East Regional.
This is the 13th time a STAC coach has been named MBWA Coach of the Year.
A native of Gasport, NY, Capell earned a Bachelors degree in 2002 from Alfred and a Masters degree at Mercyhurst. Prior to STAC, he was on the staffs at Mercyhurst, Hamilton, Clarkson and Alfred. He resides in Rockland County, NY.
For a list of previous Men's Division II Awards:
Players of the Year - Coaches of the Year
SUMMARY
NEW YORK (April 11, 2024) --- The 2023-24 All-Met Division II men’s college basketball team announced Thursday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
FIRST TEAM
Tray Alexander, Pace • 5-10, Sr., G, Freeport, NY
Darnell Evans, Caldwell • 6-0, So., G, Amityville, NY
Messiah Mallory, Staten Island • 6-7, Jr., F, Watervliet, NY
James Patterson, St. Thomas Aquinas • 6-7, So., G/F, Richmond, VA
Bryan Powell, Pace • 6-6, Gr., F, Middletown, NY
Dayshaun Walton, Adelphi • 6-4, So., G, Albany, NY
SECOND TEAM 
Jaylen Colon, Felician • 6-2, Gr., G, Paterson, NJ
Al Fatir Connor, Bloomfield • 6-0, R-So., G, Elizabeth, NJ
Sunnie Diamond, Queens • 6-2, Sr., G, Atlanta, GA
Elijah Lewis, Adelphi • 6-5, So., G, Watchung, NY
Bryce Waterman, Staten Island • 6-4, Gr., F, Colonie, NY
Player of the Year: James Patterson, St. Thomas Aquinas
Coach of the Year: Matt Capell, St. Thomas Aquinas
--- www.metbasketballwriters.org ---