Riverdale, N.Y. (April 19, 2005)- The Manhattan College Men's Basketball team had three players selected to All-Metropolitan teams, it was announced tonight at the 73rd Annual NIT/Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Awards Dinner, held at the Giants Stadium Club at the New Jersey Meadowlands. The three players honored were sophomore
Arturo Dubois, a Second Team pick, and senior co-captain
Jason Wingate and sophomore
Jeff Xavier, both named to the Third Team. Manhattan boasted the most players honored from a Division I men's program.
Dubois broke the Manhattan single season block record in 2005-06, tallying a MAAC leading 74 rejections, a total that put him among the nation's elite. The 6-8 center averaged 15.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 assists per game, and an even better 16.2 points and 9.8 rebounds in MAAC games. Dubois recorded 10 double-doubles, and seven games with 20 or more points on the way to a Second Team All-MAAC designation.
Wingate, who was recently selected as the 15th overall pick, and the top pick from a MAAC school, in the USBL Draft, had an outstanding senior campaign, averaging 13.6 points, 3.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game, all career-highs. He also posted new single game career highs in points, assists, made field goals, made three pointers, and made free throws. Known more for his playmaking ability and leadership, the 6-0 point guard came up big for the Jaspers on numerous occasions, including 33 points in a win over Marist, 31 points in a win at Saint Peter's, and 21 points in Manhattan Second Round NIT win at ACC power Maryland. The Second Team All-MAAC pick will graduate ranked sixth on the all-time Manhattan assist list, having handed out 334 helpers over the course of his career, and tied for fourth on the career free throw percentage list, having converted 82.7% of his chances from the charity stripe.
The co-captain played an integral role in one of the best runs in Manhattan history, as he was a part of three 20-plus win seasons, three MAAC Regular Season Championships, two MAAC Tournament Championships, two Holiday Festival Championships, two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a win over Florida in the 2004 NCAA's, and one NIT appearance, in which Manhattan defeated FDU and Maryland.
Xavier, also a Second Team All-MAAC selection, averaged 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.9 assists per game in a breakout sophomore campaign. His 70 steals places him fourth on the Jaspers' single season list, while his 77-220 shooting from beyond the arc are both Manhattan single season bests. The 6-0 guard scored in double figures in the team's last 13 games, and tallied four double-doubles, four games with five or more assists, and 10 games with 20 or more points, including a career-high 31 in the Jaspers' win at Maryland in the First Round of the NIT. That total ties Xavier for third on the Manhattan post-season single game scoring list.
Manhattan finished the 2005-06 season with a 20-11 overall record, 14-4 in the MAAC, winning the MAAC regular season title on the last day of the season with a dramatic, Senior Night, win over archrival Iona. The three postseason games played by the Jaspers matches the program's best.
