Casale, Berry & Mileikis Collect All-Conference Honors

Casale, Berry & Mileikis Collect All-Conference Honors

STANDISH, Maine – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball postseason accolades have been announced and three Saint Joseph's College players have earned awards.

Sophomore Jack Casale (Portland, Maine/Cheverus) has garnered First Team All-GNAC honors, senior Darian Berry (Rochester, N.H.) is listed on the Second Team, and senior Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) has collected Third Team accolades.

Casale earns First Team All-Conference honors after averaging 24.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game during a breakout sophomore campaign. The first-year starter led the GNAC in three-pointers made (100) and attempted (221), ranked second in points (626), scoring average, defensive rebounds (210), third in field goals made (216) and attempted (410), fourth in minutes per game (34.2) and total rebounds (235), and fifth in three-point percentage (45.2) and rebounding average.

Casale, who was selected as the GNAC Player of the Week four times this winter, is just the second SJC player to net 100 or more three-pointers in a season and the first to score over 600 points since Carl Howell '99 poured in a team-record 769 points during the 1998-99 campaign. Casale's scoring average is the fourth-highest in the 48-year history of the Monks' men's basketball program and he ranks second all-time in three-pointers made, fourth in trifectas attempted, fifth in rebounding average, seventh in points, three-point percentage and total rebounds, 10th in field goals made, and 12th in field goals attempted.

He also ranks seventh in NCAA DIII Men's Basketball in three-pointers per game (3.85), and three-point field goals and 12th in points and scoring average.

Berry, a 2018 First Team All-GNAC selection, collects Second Team mention after averaging 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists during his final collegiate season. He finished the year ranked fourth in the conference in scoring average, points (541) and field goals made (204), seventh in three-pointers made (69), eighth in three-point percentage (45.1%), ninth in minutes per game (32.8), field goal percentage (54.0%), and defensive rebounds (114), and 10th in steals (32).

Berry, who became the 41st SJC player to reach the 1,000-Point plateau when he netted 21 points in a 104-85 win over eventual GNAC Champion Albertus Magnus College on January 16th, capped his college career with 1,275 points in 89 career games and ranks fifth in team history in three-pointers made (196) and attempted (485), seventh in three-point percentage (40.4%), 16th in field goals made (467), and 20th in points.

Mileikis collects his second All-Conference nod after averaging 15.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per tilt this season. As a senior, he ranked second in the GNAC in field goal percentage (62.1%), fourth in free throws made (99), fifth in assists (107), sixth in free-throw percentage (81.8%), and 10th in points (422). The three-year team captain became the fourth player in program history to register a triple-double when he netted 30 points with 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a triumph over University of Saint Joseph on January 12th and was the 40th player to join the Monks' 1,000-Point Club when he surpassed the mark in a win over UMaine-Farmington on December 13th.

The four-year starter closed out his NCAA career with 1,262 points in 104 games and currently ranks third in team history in free throw percentage (80.1%). He is just the sixth player in program history to register 1,200 career points, 475 rebounds, and 325 assists, as he joins Jeff Creech '86, Jamie Header '93, Zach O'Brien '12, Elbie Murphy '09, and John Wassenbergh '96 on the short list.

Led by 16th-year Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99, Saint Joseph's posted a 19-8 overall record – including a 7-4 mark in conference play – en route to earning the #6 seed in the GNAC Tournament this season. The Monks upset #3 Johnson & Wales 83-80 in a conference quarterfinal on February 19th but suffered a season-ending 91-86 semifinal setback at the hands of seventh-seeded University of Saint Joseph two days later.

 

GNAC RELEASE

 

#GOMONKS

 

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Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts college in the Mercy tradition. We are inclusive of all faiths, including no faith. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. A pioneer of distance education since the 1970s, the College also provides online certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees for thousands more working adults who reside in more than 20 other countries. In 2015 the College was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its Community Engagement Classification, highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions within local, regional, and global communities. In 2018, Princeton Review recognized SJC as one of its “Green Colleges” for its sustainability initiatives. Learn more at www.sjcme.edu.