Two Claim AMCC Men's Basketball Top Honors
Two Penn State Behrend men’s basketball players were selected to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) All-Conference teams, claiming Player and Rookie of the Year.
ERIE, Pa. – Two Penn State Behrend men's basketball players were selected to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) All-Conference teams, claiming Player and Rookie of the Year.
Senior forward Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) was named the 2015-16 AMCC Player of the Year, earning a First Team spot. Hackett is finishing his collegiate career on an outstanding note. He leads the team averaging 16.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. He ranks fifth, third and third in those three categories respectively in the AMCC.
Hackett leads the conference, and is ninth in the country, in field goal percentage, shooting a 62.9 percent clip from the floor. He recorded a team-high 21 double-digit scoring performances surmounting to a second-place AMCC and 10th-place Division III ranking with 16 double-doubles.
Following in the veteran's footsteps, freshman guard Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) was named the 2015-16 AMCC Newcomer of the Year, and rewarded with an AMCC Second Team honor. Niland made a big name for himself during his freshman campaign running the Lions' offense.
He led the conference in three-point percent at a 44.1 percent mark, putting him 18th in the country. He was also second in the AMCC in free-throw percentage, shooting 91.3 percent for eighth place in Division III. Niland was also third in league assists (89) and seventh in assist/turnover ratio (2.1).
These two players lead the No. 1 ranked scoring defense in Division III, allowing 60.0 points per game, into the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Behrend hosts No. 6 Grove City at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Junker Center.