PSUAC Announces 2023-24 Basketball Postseason Awards, GA Well Represented
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State University Athletic Conference announced its postseason awards on Friday, with more than 90 awards handed out.
Penn State York's Deriq Brown and Penn State Greater Allegheny's Bryce Phillips earned the highest PSUAC honors, being named the East and West Division Players of the Year, respectively. On the women's side, Penn State Lehigh Valley's Hillary Offing was not only the East Rookie of the Year, but also its Co-Player of the Year. Offing was joined as the Co-Player of the Year by Desi Garcia-Hernandez of York. In the west, Greater Allegheny's Tomisha Pierce earned the Player of the Year title.
Offing averaged a double-double on the season, scoring 17.1 points per game and grabbing 10 boards a game. Pierce led the league in scoring at 23.2 points per game, while Garcia-Hernandez averaged 15.2 points, six rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Phillips was a double-double machine himself, averaging nearly 20 points and 11 rebounds in 29 games. Brown's all-around game saw him average 16 points, six rebounds, and 2.5 assists.
Joining the Players of the Year as specialty award winners, Penn State Mont Alto's Kaleigh Hartman was named the West Rookie of the Year in women's basketball, while Lehigh Valley's Nia Newman and Penn State Beaver's Emery Black were named the East and West Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.
On the men's side, Lehigh Valley's Nas Ruhani was the East Rookie of the Year while Penn State Mont Alto's Veron Talla was named the West Rookie of the Year. Defensive Players of the Year included Penn State Wilkes-Barre's Allen Ozojie (East) and Penn State New Kensington's Benjamin Cunningham.
Beaver's Tim Moore was named the Women's Basketball Coach of the Year after leading his team to a perfect 19-0 record in conference, and 22-6 overall. His counterpart on the men's side is first year head coach Dan Smay from Penn State DuBois. Smay led his team to the playoffs for the first time in several years and guided his team to a 15-15 overall record, including 9-10 in conference play after being picked in preseason to finish near the bottom of the league.
Full PSUAC Men's and Women's Basketball awards are included in the links below. PSUAC All-Conference awards are nominated by individual campuses and then voted upon by PSUAC coaches and administrators.