PITMAN, N.J. (2/22/11) – After capturing the New Jersey Athletic Conference South Division, the Kean University men's basketball team earned three of the conference's major awards, as senior Jonathan Jones headlined the honors as the NJAC "Pony Wilson" Player of the Year, guard Michael Burton was named the Rookie of the Year, and head coach Rob Kurzinsky earned "John K. Adams" Coach of the Year accolades.
The honors mark the first major conference awards for the program in over a decade, as the Cougars have posted one of its best seasons since 1994-95.
Jones, who also earns NJAC first-team honors for the second straight season, becomes just the third player in program history to earn Player of the Year honors, joining the program's all-time leading scorer Herman Alston (1990-91) and two-time Player of the Year Fred Drains (1991-92, 1992-93).
A three-time NJAC all-star, the forward averaged a staggering 25.5 points and 14.2 rebounds in 13 conference games this season, recording a double-double in all but one game. He shot over 60 percent from the floor (116-190, .611) and nearly 70% from the charity stripe (110-146, .685), while adding 27 steals, 16 assists and seven blocks.
Jones, a six-time NJAC Player of the Week throughout the season, opened the season with 15 straight double-doubles and was featured in Faces in the Crowd in the January 24th issue of Sports Illustrated. Jones has ranked in the top three in the country in scoring and rebounding for most of the season, while also posting a remarkable 24 double-doubles to lead the nation.
Burton is the third Kean player to earn the conference's top rookie honor after averaging 9.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in conference action in his freshman campaign. A three-time NJAC Rookie of the Week, Burton added 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals in NJAC play. Mendell Foreman (1990-91) and Alfonso Thomas (1996-97) also earned NJAC Rookie of the Year honors at Kean.
The rookie currently ranks ninth in the conference in both three-point field goal percentage (.371) and three-point field goals made per game (1.4). Burton also ranks as the top freshman scorer in the conference, currently averaging 10.4 point per game overall this season.
In his fourth season at the helm, Kurzinsky was selected by his peers as the NJAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Cougars to a 10-3 record and the program's first NJAC South Division title. The Cougars, who were selected to finish second in the South Division in the preseason poll, have doubled their win total from a year ago and the 18 wins are the most since 1994-95. Kurzinsky becomes just the second Kean coach to earn the conference's top coaching honor. Ron Kornegay earned Coach of the Year honors in 1990-91, when the Cougars finished 24-6 and captured their last NJAC title.