STANDISH, ME – The GNAC Men's Basketball all-conference and yearly honors have been released and Saint Joseph's College has landed three individuals on the list of postseason accolades.
Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99 has been selected as the Men's Basketball Coach of the Year while senior guard Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) has earned First Team All-GNAC honors and senior forward Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) has been listed on the Second Team.
Sanicola (192-109, .638), who just completed his 11th season as the Monks' leader, collects GNAC Coach of the Year honors for the third time (2009, 2011) after leading the Royal Blue to an 18-10 record, including a 15-3 mark in conference play, leading to the #2 seed in the GNAC Tournament.
With a 4-6 record after falling to Catholic University on January 5th, Coach Sanicola led his team to victory in 12 of the next 14 contests, a span that included a nine-game winning streak, the program's longest since the 1998-99 campaign. The Monks saw the streak come to a close with a regular-season-ending loss to Lasell College on February 22nd.
Despite the setback, Saint Joseph's claimed the #2 seed in the GNAC Tournament via tiebreaker with Johnson & Wales University, which also posted a 15-3 league record this winter. In tournament play, the Monks proceeded to defeat #7 Suffolk University and #2 Johnson & Wales to advance to the GNAC Championship - for the third time in seven years as a member of the conference – where the Royal Blue fell to top-seeded, and nationally ranked, Albertus Magnus College.
Medeiros takes First Team All-Conference honors for the second-consecutive season after producing the best statistical season of his memorable career. The senior guard tallied career-highs in scoring (18.8 PPG) as well as field goals (169), three pointers (103) and free throws made (84) and also posted personal-bests in assists (65) and total points (525) during the 2013-14 campaign.
Medeiros, who became the 36th member of the Monks' 1,000-Point Club with 29 points in a double-overtime victory over Rivier University on December 7th, ranked second in all of NCAA DIII Men's Basketball with 103 three-pointers made this season. His total from downtown also broke the Monks' single-season record, a mark formerly held by Stephen Chase '93, who netted 97 from beyond the arc during his senior season (1992-93) over 20 years ago.
No SJC player has scored more points (525) or posted a higher PPG average in a single season since C.J. Vose '03 netted 560 with a 20.0 PPG mark during the 2000-01 season. Medeiros capped his career with 1,408 points, 267 three-pointers made, 362 rebounds, 195 assists and 72 steals over 107 contests. He ranks second all-time in career three-point field goals and is just the second Saint Joseph's player – Zach O'Brien '12 being the other – to earn a pair of First Team All-GNAC accolades during their career.
Jobin, a Third Team selection last winter, claims Second Team honors as a senior and also registered career-highs across the board during the 2013-14 campaign. An athletic post player, Jobin averaged 17.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 57.6% (186-323) from the floor with all three numbers counting as personal-bests. He also established career-highs in field goals made (186) and attempted (323), free throws made (106) and attempted (169), rebounds (224) and points (479).
Jobin became the 37th member of the 1,000-Point Club with 31 points in a win over Lasell College on January 23rd and is the 17th men's player to pull down at least 500 career rebounds.
For his career, Jobin shot 53.9% (455-844) from the floor with 553 rebounds, 127 assists, 52 steals and 1,179 points. He leaves the program ranked 11th all-time in field goal percentage, 14th in free throws made (263) and 17th in field goals made (455).
With 1,004 points combined this season, Medeiros and Jobin have netted more points together than any SJC duo since Carl Howell '99 and Ryan Martin '00 scored 1,204 points during the 1998-99 season. The Monks have not had two different players score at least 475 points – something that has been achieved just seven times in program history - since Chad Pulkkinen '07 (505) and Elbie Murphy '09 (480) accomplished the feat in 2007.
2014 GNAC ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
