WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —Morgan State Head Men's Basketball Coach Todd Bozeman was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and three Bears earned all-conference honors, announced Monday evening at the Tip-Off Banquet held at the M.C. Benton Jr. Convention Center.
Junior guard Reggie Holmes (Baltimore, Md.) earned First-Team all-conference honors and senior forward Marquise Kately (San Francisco, Calif.) was selected Second Team all-conference. Redshirt-freshman forward/center Kevin Thompson (Baltimore, Md.) was selected to the MEAC All-Rookie Team.
Coppin State senior guard Tywain McKee, who led the Eagles in scoring (18.2), rebounding (5.7), assists (4.0) and steals (2.9), earned MEAC Player of the Year honors, while South Carolina State forward Jason Johnson was the league's Defensive Player of the Year and guard Cliff Reed was the league's Rookie of the Year.
Todd Bozeman guided the Morgan State Bears to a 13-3 conference record and 20-11 overall mark. In his third year at the helm, Bozeman's Bears recorded top non-conference wins over Maryland and DePaul and are currently ranked 23rd in Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Morgan State, who earned back-to-back regular season championship titles, has won the most Division I games in school history and will enter tournament play as the number one seed. Bozeman is also one of 10 finalists for the 2009 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award, given to the nation's top mid-major coach. The winner will be presented with the award at the 2009 Final Four in Detroit.
Holmes, the Preseason All-MEAC Second Team selection, is the MEAC's third leading scorer averaging 16.5 points, along with 5.3 rebounds and averaged 30.1 minutes per game. The Baltimore native also leads the MEAC this season in three-pointers per game and set a new school record for three-pointers in a season (87) and in a career (196). The standout has scored 1,178 in his three year career with Morgan State and sits at No. 14 in the school's all-time scoring chart. He was recently named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First Team All-District.
Kately, a Preseason First Team selection, has scored in double figures in 21-of-31 games, and averages 11.0 points per game and is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game. The San Francisco product is known throughout the conference for his versatility and completed the regular season ranked 8th in field goal percentage (47.5 percent), 13th in rebounding (5.3) and 14th in scoring (11.0). He was also a member of the 2008 MEAC All-Tournament Team and, like Holmes, was honored to the NABC First Team All-District.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Thompson was a strong contender for the MEAC's Rookie of the Year throughout the season. The Walbrook High School product was selected MEAC Rookie of the Week five times this season. Thompson is currently averaging 9.1 points and 7.2 rebounds to help the conference-leading Bears to a 20-11 mark and the Bears' second consecutive MEAC regular season title.
The top-seeded Bears will take on the winner of No. 8 seeded Howard versus No. 9 Florida A&M on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the MEAC quarterfinals. Should the Bears advance through that round and the Friday semifinals, they would play in their second consecutive conference championship game on Saturday, March 14.
MEAC Men's Basketball All Conference
First Team
Tywain McKee (Coppin State)
Jason Johnson (South Carolina State)
Reggie Holmes (Morgan State)
Michael Deloach (Norfolk State)
Eugene Myatt (Howard)
Second Team
Clifford J. Reed (Bethune-Cookman)
Marquise Kately (Morgan State)
Vincent Simpson (Hampton)
Jason Flager (South Carolina State)
Corey Lyons (Norfolk State),
Neal Pitt (Maryland E. Shore)
Rookie Team
Cliff Reed (Bethune-Cookman)
Kevin Thompson (Morgan State)
Michael Harper (Coppin State),
Jimmy Williams (South Carolina State)
Keishawn Mayes (Maryland E. Shore)
Major Awards
Rookie of the Year: Cliff Reed, Bethune-Cookman
Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Johnson, South Carolina State
Player of the Year: Tywain McKee, Coppin State
