Long Island Basketball was well represented at the 2019-20 Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Honors ceremony on social media.
Adelphi Panthers redshirt-senior Leonie Edringer was tabbed the Division-II All-Met Women’s Co-Player of the Year. She also gained All-Met First Team honors alongside teammate junior Katie Murphy. Panthers head coach Missy Traversi was named the D-II 2019-20 Women’s Coach of the Year.
Stony Brook Seawolves forward India Pagan earned a Division-I Women’s All-Met Second Team honor.
On the men’s side, Adelphi sophomore Ronnie Silva was honored with a D-II All-Met First Team spot. LIU Sharks redshirt-senior Raiquan Clark and Hofstra Pride senior Eli Pemberton received D-I All-Met Second Team honors. Pemberton’s teammate Desure Buie was named to the D-I All-Met First Team.
Edringer established herself as one of the best D-II athletes in the northeast by leading the Panthers in shots attempted, shots made, field goal percentage and total points. The redshirt-senior ranked third in the Northeast-10 Conference with 9.6 rebounds per game and ninth with 15.1 points per contest. She commanded the ball and led her team with 14 double-doubles this season.
The forward left her mark in the conference for her final collegiate season — picking up NE10 All-Conference First Team, D2CAA All-Region First Team, and WBCA America Honorable Mention honors as well.
Traversi earned the top coaching honors after leading the Panthers to a 27-3 overall record and a top-10 national rank. The team ranked tenth nationally with 285 3-pointers made and held opponents to 35 percent shooting per game. Adelphi was the top seed and prepared to host and compete in the East Region of the D-II NCAA Tournament, prior to the NCAA season’s cancellation.
Edringer is the first Panthers’ player to win the honor since Gianna Smith in 2007. Traversi is the first Adelphi head coach to be awarded since Heather Jacobs in 2015.
Murphy earned a First-Team spot alongside her teammate after providing much of the Panthers’ on-court playcalling. The point guard often found her teammates for buckets and dished out 197 assists, ranking third nationally. She also earned ECAC All-Star First Team and NE10 All-Conference Second Team honors.
Pagan dominated the post and boosted the Seawolves’ offense en route to picking up the Second Team honor. The forward ranked 66th nationally shooting 50 percent on the season and led Stony Brook with 156 shots made and 13.4 points per game. The junior was named the America East Player of the Week three times and was a conference First-Team honoree.
Silva found himself on the MBWA honors list again, but this time as a First Team member. The guard was a machine on offense by leading Adelphi with 627 points– over 27 percent of the team’s total points. He ranked third in the conference averaging 21.6 points and just over five assists per contest.
Clark was unstoppable getting to the basket, leading the Northeast Conference in scoring since opening day. The forward averaged just under 19 points per game and ranked in the top ten in field goal percentage, steals, offensive and defensive rebounds, and minutes played. Those accolades also earned him a NEC All-Conference First Team bid.
Pemberton delivered on the high expectations set after making the 2019-20 Preseason All Colonial Athletic Association First Team. The guard nearly matched Buie in points, assists and steals per game. The senior scored 19 points in the CAA Championship game versus Northwestern and was named to the CAA Championship All-Tournament Team.
Buie was the backbone of the Pride’s offense and led with 18.2 points, nearly six assists and two steals per game. The guard led Hofstra to its first CAA Championship after scoring a game-high 20 points, earning the CAA Most Outstanding Player award in the process. The ironman played in every game for the second straight season and played the most games in program history at 141.
Buie and Pemberton also earned NABC honors.
