STANDISH, Maine – The 2014-15 Maine Men's Basketball Coaches and Writers Association (MMBCWA) annual awards have been announced and a pair of Saint Joseph's College players have earned accolades.
Senior guard Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) has collected First Team All-State honors while freshman forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) has claimed MMBCWA Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team accolades.
Simonds averaged 22.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 51.6% (190-368) from the field, 45.8% (98-214) from three-point range, and 87.7% (107-122) from the free throw line during his senior season.
The three-year starter led all Maine players in points (585), three-point field goals made per game (3.77) and three-pointers made, ranked second in the State in rebounding, scoring, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, defensive rebounding and three-point field goal attempts, and third in field goals made and total rebounds.
Simonds, who became the 38th member of the Monks' 1,000-Point Club during the 2014-15 campaign, recorded the sixth-highest single-season scoring average and posted the eighth-highest point total in the 45-year history of the Saint Joseph's men's basketball program as a senior. No SJC player has averaged as many points in a season since Carl Howell '99 set the program record with 26.5 PPG during the 1998-99 campaign.
Simonds closed out his career as the Monks' all-time leader in free-throw percentage (.871, 210-241) and is currently ranked third in three-pointers made (229) and three-point percentage (.416). He scored 1,243 points with 449 rebounds, 222 assists and 37 steals over four NCAA seasons.
Richardson-Newton averaged 9.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists while starting all 27 of the Monks' contests as a freshman post player. He led the team in field goal percentage (55.2%, 91-165) and ranked second on the squad in playing time (27.1 MPG), free throws made (72), free throw attempts (100), rebounding and total rebounds (111) and was also third in field goals made, free-throw percentage (72.0%), points (254) and scoring average.
The sixth player in program history to garner Maine Rookie of the Year honors, Richardson-Newton netted the most points with the highest scoring average by an SJC player since Chris Davis scored 256 points with a 9.8 PPG mark in 2008.
Richardson-Newton joins Paul Searles (1989), Carl Howell (1996), C.J. Vose (2000), Leroy Gore (2001) and Mike Stallings (2004) on the prestigious list of Saint Joseph's MMBCWA Rookie of the Year recipients.
Saint Joseph's College, led by 12th-year Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99, completed the 2014-15 season with a 13-14 overall record and a 10-8 mark in GNAC play. As the #4 seed in the conference tourney, the Monks defeated #5 Lasell College, 84-77 in overtime, in a GNAC Quarterfinal on February 24th to advance to the semifinal round for the seventh time in eight seasons as a member of the conference. The campaign came to a close with a semifinal loss at top-seeded Albertus Magnus, a team that proceeded to win its fourth-consecutive GNAC Championship, on February 26th.
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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.
