Albany, NY (March 5, 2004)- Manhattan College senior
Luis Flores was named MAAC Player of the Year, it was announced today at the MAAC Awards Banquet at the Pepsi Arena, the site of the HSBC MAAC Basketball Championships. This is the second consecutive year that Flores has received this award from the MAAC, in voting done by the conference's head coaches.
Flores, who was named to the All-MAAC First Team for the third straight year earlier this week, adds Player of the Year honors to an already impressive resume. He averaged 24.1 points and 3.9 rebounds a game for the Jaspers during the regular season. This season he moved into second place on the Manhattan all-time scoring list as well as the MAAC all-time scoring list for conference games. Flores becomes just the third student-athlete to be named MAAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year two straight years, and the first since LaSalle's Lionel Simmons won the award three straight years from 1988-1990. Iona's Steve Burtt won the award after the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons.
Manhattan posted a 22-5 record, 16-2 in MAAC play during the regular season, and is the #1 seed in the MAAC Tournament. The Jaspers receive a double-bye to the semifinals, played on Sunday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. The 16 MAAC wins is the most by a MAAC team since the conference expanded to an 18 game conference slate, and ties LaSalle for the most ever conference wins.
