BALTIMORE, Md. -- Towson senior forward Jerrelle Benimon was selected as the Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season in voting by the league's head coaches, media relations directors and members of the media. The announcement was made Thursday night at the league's pre-tournament awards banquet in Baltimore, Md.

Also receiving top honors were Delaware's Monté Ross as the CAA Coach of the Year, William and Mary freshman guard/forward Omar Prewitt as the CAA Rookie of the Year and Northeastern junior forward Scott Eatherton as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year. William and Mary senior forward Tim Rusthoven was the recipient of the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award.

Benimon becomes the eighth player in conference history to receive CAA Player of the Year honors in multiple years. The senior forward has recorded a nation's-best 20 double-doubles in 31 games and he also leads Division I in rebounding with 11.7 per contest. Benimon, who ranked fourth in the league in scoring with 18.9 points per game, reached double figures in 28 of 31 outings and tallied 20 or more points 17 times.

Benimon, who was also selected to the CAA All-Defensive team for the second straight year, broke his own Towson single-season record with 363 rebounds, which was the fourth-most in a season in CAA history and the most by any CAA player other than Navy All-American David Robinson. Showing his all-around game, Benimon was also third in the conference in assists (3.7 apg), fourth in field goal percentage (52.8%) and fifth in blocked shots (1.3 bpg).

Joining Benimon on the All-CAA first team were Drexel senior guard Frantz Massenat, Delaware senior guard Devon Saddler, William & Mary junior guard Marcus Thornton and Delaware senior guard Davon Usher.

Earning second-team All-CAA honors were Northeastern's Eatherton (15.5 ppg/10.1 rpg), Drexel graduate student guard Chris Fouch (17.9 ppg/3.2 rpg), College of Charleston senior forward Willis Hall (12.2 ppg/9.0 rpg), William & Mary's Rusthoven (12.2 ppg/4.9 rpg) and Hofstra graduate student guard/forward Zeke Upshaw (19.6 ppg/4.2 rpg).

Named to the All-CAA third team were Delaware senior forward Carl Baptiste (10.9 ppg/8.3 rpg), James Madison sophomore guard Charles Cooke (14.3 ppg/5.0 rpg), Towson senior forward Marcus Damas (11.4 ppg/5.3 rpg), Towson senior forward/guard Rafriel Guthrie (12.0 ppg/2.9 rpg), James Madison sophomore guard Andre Nation (15.2 ppg/5.3 rpg) and Hofstra graduate student guard Dion Nesmith (13.2 ppg/4.3 apg).

Damas ranks second on the team in both rebounding and three-pointers made and is third in scoring, assists and blocks. The senior ranks Top 20 in the CAA in scoring, rebounding, blocks, free throw percentage and free throw percentage. Damas became Towson's 23rd player to reach the 1,000-point scoring plateau on January 27. He enters this weekend's CAA Tournament having scored 1,094 points.

Guthrie ranks second on the team and 14th in the CAA in scoring. The senior has been on a tear in the second half of the season, scoring in double figures in 12 of his last 14 games. Since being inserted into the starting lineup on February 15, the Tigers are 6-0. Guthrie scored a season-high 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting in Towson's win at Northeastern on February 20.

Sophomore Timajh Parker-Rivera was also honored on Thursday night as the forward was named to the CAA All-Academic Team.

Towson is set to open CAA Tournament play on Saturday night as the second-seeded Tigers will host seventh-seeded James Madison at 6 p.m. inside Baltimore Arena. The game can be seen live on Comcast SportsNet.


-TowsonTigers.com-