BOSTON – The University of Vermont men's basketball team had four players and its head coach earn All-America East honors. The league unveiled its year-end award winners and All-Conference Teams on Friday morning.
 
RELATED LINKS
America East: Release | Awards Listing
Tournament: Playoff Central
 
The Catamounts had two major award winners – Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker was named Coach of the Year and junior forward Anthony Lamb was lauded as the Kevin Roberson Player of the Year. In addition, redshirt senior guard Ernie Duncan was tabbed to the All-Conference First Team along with Lamb, and younger brother Robin Duncan made the All-Rookie Team. UVM also landed a pair on the All-Defensive Team – Lamb and redshirt senior Samuel Dingba.
 
Becker joins former Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell and former Drexel/current New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion as the only four-time winners of the America East Coach of the Year award. Becker is the first coach in the league's history to win the award three years in a row. He guided the program to a 14-2 league record and the ninth regular season championship. The Green and Gold stand at 24-6 on the year, their fourth-highest single-season win total ever, and matched a school record with 10 non-conference victories. UVM also completed its first ever Atlantic 10 season sweep and beat preseason favorites Northeastern and Harvard.
 
Lamb is the seventh Catamount to earn Player of the Year honors. The Rochester, New York native led the league in scoring with 20.8 points per game and rebounding with 8.0 rebounds per game. He is the first UVM player since Marqus Blakely (2007-08) to lead the conference in both scoring and rebounding. In conference play, he dropped 19.6 points per game, snared 8.4 boards per game, made 53.2% of his field goal attempts, and swatted away 17 shots – all ranked second in their respective categories. The junior hit the double-figure mark in 13 out of his 14 conference games played with eight 20-point efforts.
 
Ernie Duncan was one of the top three-point scoring threats in the conference. The Evansville, Indiana native was the league's frontrunner with a 42.6% three-point percentage. He buried 69 triples, the third-most in America East, and finished tied for 10th in scoring average (14.3). Dingba ranked fourth among the league's top shot blockers with 17 denials in conference play and pulled down 4.1 rebounds per game. With Robin Duncan earning All-Rookie honors, a UVM newcomer has made the All-Rookie Team for the sixth year in a row and the seventh time in Becker's eight-year tenure. Duncan dished out 81 assists this season – the most by an America East freshman behind Binghamton's Sam Sessoms (108) who is this year's Rookie of the Year.
 
Top-seeded Vermont will host eighth-seeded Maine in the America East Quarterfinals on Saturday (March 9). The opening tip is set for 7 p.m. on the hardwood of Patrick Gym. Fans can purchase tickets online at UVMathletics.com/Tickets. All of the action can be seen on ESPN+ with a paid subscription. Fans can access ESPN+ with a seven-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee of $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with the ability to cancel at any time. Fans can also listen to the contest on 101.3 The Game and 1013TheGame.com with Jake Marsh on the call.
 
National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 Vermont men's basketball season
 
2018-19 AMERICA EAST MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
All-Conference First Team
Ernie Duncan, Sr., G, Vermont
Anthony Lamb, Jr., F, Vermont
J.R. Lynch, Sr., G, Hartford
Joe Sherburne, Sr., F, UMBC
Akwasi Yeboah, Jr., F, Stony Brook
 
All-Conference Second Team
George Blagojevic, Sr., F, Hartford
John Carroll, Sr., F, Hartford
Andrew Fleming, Jr., F, Maine
K.J. Jackson, Jr., G, UMBC
Christian Lutete, Jr., G, UMass Lowell
 
All-Conference Third Team
Ahmad Clark, Jr., G, UAlbany
Jason Dunne, Sr., G, Hartford
Cameron Healy, Fr., G, UAlbany
Elijah Olaniyi, So., G, Stony Brook
Sam Sessoms, Fr., F, Binghamton
 
All-Defensive Team
Devonte Campbell, Sr., F, UAlbany
Samuel Dingba, Sr., F, Vermont
K.J. Jackson, Jr., G, UMBC
Anthony Lamb, Jr., F, Vermont
Jeff Otchere, So., C, Stony Brook
 
All-Rookie Team
Robin Duncan, Fr., G, Vermont
R.J. Eytle-Rock, Fr., G, UMBC
Cameron Healy, Fr., G, UAlbany
Miles Latimer, Fr., G, Stony Brook
Sam Sessoms, Fr., G, Binghamton
 
All-Academic Team
George Blagojevic, Sr., 3.57 GPA, Hartford
Christian Lutete, Jr., 3.76 GPA, UMass Lowell
Joe Sherburne, Gr., 4.00 GPA, UMBC
J.C. Show, Gr. 3.80 GPA, Binghamton
Ilija Stojiljkovic, Sr., 3.75 GPA, Maine
 
Player of the Year
Anthony Lamb, Vermont (unanimous selection)
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Jeff Otchere, Stony Brook
 
Sixth Man of the Year
Andrew Garcia, Stony Brook
 
Rookie of the Year
Sam Sessoms, Binghamton
 
Coach of the Year
John Becker, Vermont