NORFOLK, Va., March 4, 2022 –
Norfolk State senior guard Joe Bryant, Jr. has been named the 2021-22 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Year, the conference office announced today.
Howard freshman guard Elijah Hawkins has been named Rookie of the Year, while
Delaware State senior center Christopher Sodom is the Defensive Player of the Year.
Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones has been selected as the MEAC Coach of the Year.
All awards, presented by TowneBank, were voted on by the conference’s head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors.
Bryant led the Spartans in virtually every statistical category, including scoring (16.8 ppg), field goals made and attempted (146-for-333), 3-point field goals made and attempted (49-for-143), free throws made and attempted (112-for-122), free throw percentage (91.8%), assists (90; 3.3 apg), steals (40; 1.5 spg) and minutes played (31.8 mpg). The four-time MEAC Player of the Week currently ranks fourth nationally and leads the conference in free throw percentage. Bryant was also the MEAC scoring leader during the regular season, and he put up double-figure scoring numbers in 22 of the Spartans’ 27 games – including nine games with 20 or more points. He recorded a season-high of 29 points twice this year and eclipsed the 1,000-point scoring plateau against Maryland Eastern Shore on Feb. 12.
Hawkins had an impressive freshman season for the Bison, averaging 13.0 points, 5.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 29.5 minutes per game. He earned nine of the 13 MEAC Rookie of the Week awards given out this season and currently leads the conference in assists and ranks third in steals. Hawkins reached double figures in scoring 19 times and scored 20-plus points three times this season, including 23-point performances against the University of the District of Columbia and Coppin State.
Sodom, a 7-foot-3 senior, leads the MEAC with 56 blocks (2.1 per game) and is the Hornets’ top rebounder, grabbing 6.0 boards per game. Ranked 42
nd in the nation in blocks per game, he has blocked at least one shot in 21 games this season and had a season-high five blocks against Rider on Nov. 14. The two-time MEAC Defensive Player of the Week had double-digit rebounds in four games this season, with his best effort (15) also coming against Rider. He rewrote the Hornets record books on Jan. 30 when he blocked a school-record nine shots against Morgan State. Sodom finished that game with nine blocks, nine rebounds and five points.
Jones is in his ninth year as head coach of the Spartans and 15th overall with the program. This season, he guided the Spartans, the No. 1 seed going into next week’s MEAC Basketball Tournament, to a 21-6 overall record and a 12-2 mark in MEAC play. Jones posted the 100
th MEAC win of his career on Feb. 14 in a 69-66 victory over Delaware State. During his tenure, he has amassed an overall record of 162-125, a sterling MEAC mark of 103-34 and was named MEAC Coach of the Year after the 2018-19 season. The Spartans also boasted non-conference wins this season over the likes of Tennessee State, William & Mary, Hampton, Grambling State, UNC Wilmington and Bowling Green.
Joining Bryant on the 2021-22 All-MEAC First Team are Howard’s Kyle Foster, Delaware State’s Myles Carter, Coppin State’s Nendah Tarke and North Carolina Central’s Justin Wright.
The 2021-22 regular-season champion, First Team honorees and other award winners, including Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, will be recognized in pre-game presentations prior to the honorees’ first games in tournament play.
Tournament play begins Wednesday, March 9, and runs through Saturday, March 12, at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.
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www.meachoops.com.