STANDISH, ME - The Great Northeast Athletic Conference has announced its 2009 men's basketball all-conference awards and four members of the Saint Joseph's College team have been honored. Sixth-year Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99 is the GNAC Coach of the Year, Ray Eatmon '10 (Huntington, NY) was named First Team All-Conference and Elbie Murphy '09 (Loudonville, NY) received Second Team honors for the second straight year. Chris Davis '11 (New York, NY) was also honored by being named to the GNAC All-Sportsmanship team.

The third-seeded Monks will attempt to capture their first GNAC Championship when they play host to #4 Emmanuel on Saturday in a 2:00 PM title game. St. Joe's defeated #7 Albertus Magnus, 75-64, in a semi-final game at the Alfond Center on Thursday evening to advance, while Emmanuel notched a double-overtime, 94-91 win over top-seeded Lasell College the same night. The winner of the crown will be rewarded with an automatic qualifier into the NCAA DIII Tournament.

Sanicola, a former standout player at Saint Joseph's and one of only three players in team history to record a triple-double, has guided the Monks to a 20-7 overall record and a 12-6 tilt in GNAC play, good for the #3 seed in the playoffs, this season. Through February 26th, Sanicola has amassed a 99-64 (.607) record and is the program's second-winningest coach. His team leads the GNAC in scoring defense, allowing just 68.4 points per game, and, as of February 22nd, ranked fifth nationally with 13.9 personal fouls per contest.

For Ray Eatmon, the postseason conference honor is his second, as he collected Third Team honors in 2008. The 6'5" junior forward leads the Monks with 12.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game averages and his 59.7% (135-226) success rate from the field, currently the seventh-best mark by an SJC player in a season, is also a team-high. Eatmon ranks second in the GNAC in rebounding and shooting percentage and, with 236 caroms this season, is 14 shy of being the fourth player in team history to gather 250 rebounds in a campaign. The junior has been listed on the GNAC Weekly Honor Roll four times this year.

Second Team recipient Elbie Murphy ranks in the top three in 11 categories this year for St. Joe's. The senior has enjoyed a remarkable career in a Monks' jersey, as evidenced by the fact that his name is littered throughout the SJC single-season and career record books. Perhaps the most prolific ball-hawking player in the program's rich history, Murphy broke the team's career record for steals in a win over Husson University on December 9th and is the only Monk to reach the 300-steal plateau (316 as of 2/26/09). His 126 steals as a sophomore ranks as the SJC single-season record, while his 4.2 steals average that year, also a team record, led all levels of NCAA men's basketball. With six rebounds against Lasell College on February 21st, he became just the third player in team history to reach 1,400 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists in their career. Murphy has captured GNAC Weekly Honor accolades twice this winter.

On a vote by his teammates, Chris Davis was selected as the St. Joe's player who best exemplifies the tenets of sportsmanship. The sophomore ranks third on the team in FG% (49.5%, 107-216) and fourth in scoring (10.3 PPG) this season.

GNAC RELEASE

Lasell senior forward Jose Guitian was selected as the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Player of the Year in a vote by the conference coaches. Guitian, a first-team all-conference selection last year, leads the league in scoring (24.1), rebounds (13.5), and blocked shots (2.3)), and also ranks in the GNAC for field goal percentage (.511), assists (2.8), and 3 point field goals made (1.7). Guitian is also making a mark nationally where he is ranked second for rebounding, seventh in scoring, and 18th in blocked shots per game. He has surpassed the 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds this season. He was recently named one of ten finalists for the prestigious Jostens Trophy and this season has earned GNAC Player of the Week eight times, ECAC Player of the week four times, and D3hoops.com Team of the Week three times.

Joining Guitian on the first-team all-conference team is Emerson junior guard Jeremy Shannon, another repeat selection, was named the 2009 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Shannon is second in the league for scoring (20.4), assists (6.1), and steals (2.1), fourth in assists/turnover ratio (1.5), and fifth in rebounding (8.8).

Shannon's teammate junior Bryan Rouse also received first-team all-conference honors. Rouse was third in conference scoring (19.6), fifth in free throw percentage (.756), and sixth in field goal percentage (.527), and averaged 6.3 rebounds per game.

Emmanuel's all-time leading scorer Robert Williams Hinton earned first-team accolades for the second consecutive season. The senior guard leads the conference in steals (2.2), ranked sixth in 3-point field goals made (2.), eighth in free throw percentage (.745), tenth in 3-point field goal percentage (.386), and averages 17.2 points per game.

Saint Joseph's junior Ray Eatmon (Huntington, NY) was also named to the first-team all-conference. Eatmon ranks second in the conference for rebounds (9.5) and field goal percentage (.594), tenth in blocked shots (1.0), and leads St. Joe's in scoring with 13 points per game.

Albertus Magnus freshmen forward Ray Askew earned GNAC Rookie of the Year honors. The first year forward ranks seventh in the conference for rebounds (8.4) and blocked shots (1.3), and averages 13.1 points per game, doing all of this while just averaging 20.1 minutes per game.

Saint Joseph's (Maine) sixth-year head coach Robert Sanicola '99 was named the 2009 GNAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.