DAKTRONICS NCAA DIVISION II MEN’S BASKETBALL

ALL NORTHEAST REGION TEAMS ANNOUNCED

ALBANY – The 2006-07 Daktronics NCAA Division II men’s basketball All-Northeast Region squad has a fresh look to it with eight new players, including a pair of juniors and the regional Player of the Year, who made an indelible impression throughout the past year. The aforementioned group is joined by one player who is making his second consecutive appearance and another who has garnered All-Region accolades for the third straight season. Sports Information Directors throughout the Northeast Region conducted the voting.

Senior center Christian Burns has been named the Daktronics Regional Player of the Year. He is joined on the first team by Bloomfield senior guard Andre Dabney who garnered second team honors in each of the past two years. Also, Queens senior guard Bradd Wierzbicki is making his second straight appearance on the first-team All-Region squad. Burns, Dabney and Wierzbicki are joined on the first team by Saint Rose junior guard Steve Dagostino and Bridgeport senior guard Japhet McNeil.

Burns, the 2006-07 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Player of the Year, is second in the nation with a league-leading 11.2 rebounds per-game. He is also 15th in the country and second in the CACC with 22.0 points per-outing. Furthermore, his 55.9 percent (246-for-440) shooting from the floor and 2.2 blocks per-game also represent the second best marks in the league. He registered more than 1,000 points in only two years with the Rams after transferring from Quinnipiac University.

Dabney has amassed 2,350 points, 585 rebounds, 570 assists, and 294 steals throughout a prolific career at Bloomfield. A four-time CACC first team All-Conference pick and the lone 2,000 point scorer in school annals, Dabney leads the conference with 24.6 points, is seventh with 3.6 assists, and stands fourth with 1.9 steals per-outing. Dabney has never missed a game in his four years.

A two-time Player of the Year honoree in the ECC, Wierzbicki has established himself as the fourth leading scorer in Queens history with 1,686 points. Wierzbicki is the nation’s ninth leading scorer with a league leading 23.4 ppg. He has scored 20 or more points on 20 occasions this year and has scored at least 30 in five games.

Dagostino, the 2006-07 Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year, is one of just 21 players in Saint Rose history to score 1,000 points. He is already 12th all-time with 370 assists and is 10th with 164 steals. Dagostino is the only NE-10 player among the league’s top-10 in scoring, assists and steals. He is averaging 16.8 points, 4.9 assists and 2.1 steals per-game on the year.

McNeil garnered first team All-Conference accolades from the ECC. He is fifth in the league with 16.8 points, is third with 5.1 assists and is first with 4.2 steals per-outing. The latter figure leads all of NCAA I and NCAA II. McNeil swiped opposing players eight times in three different games this season and was in double-figures scoring in 26 of the club’s 28 contests.

The second team is comprised of Pace junior guard Ryan Williams, Bentley senior forward Jeff Holmes, senior center Michael Pierrot of Felician, senior guard Chris Burns of Bryant and American International senior forward Magen McNeil.

The 2006-07 Daktronics Men’s Basketball All-America team will be announced in conjunction with the 2007 NCAA Division II “Elite Eight” in Springfield, MA on Tuesday, March 20. The five first-team members from each of the country’s eight regions are placed on the national ballot with Division II SIDs selecting first, second and third-team All-America honorees.