Bradanese, Franklin Earn GNAC All-Conference Honors, Conrad Named Coach of the Year
WINTHROP, Mass.—Anna Maria College men's basketball coach Shawn Conrad was voted the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Coach of the Year, and junior Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) and graduate student Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) were named to the league's All-Conference team, as announced by the league office on Monday morning.
Bradanese was named to the league's second team. The junior guard leads the AMCATS in scoring, averaging 14.6 points per game on a 46.3 percent effort from the floor. Bradanese scored in double-figures in 17 of the 25 games in which he appeared, and scored a season-high 28 points with six-three pointers in Anna Maria's 85-84 win against Emmanuel on February 12th.
He ranked amongst the best shooters in the league this season, clocking in at eighth in the GNAC in points-per-game and seventh in three-point shooting percentage.
Franklin earned GNAC Third Team honors after finishing the regular season ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage. He averaged an AMCAT third-best 12.8 points per game and shot a remarkable 65.6 percent from the floor while also leading the AMCATS in rebounding with 6.6 per game. Franklin scored a season-best 22 points in Anna Maria's 65-48 win against Emmanuel on January 10th. He also recorded two double-doubles on the season.
Conrad led the AMCATS to a 12-6 record in conference play and a third seed in the 2015 GNAC tournament, marking the fourth-straight year that the AMCAT program has qualified for postseason play in the league. In the month of January, Conrad led Anna Maria to a nine-game conference winning streak that included a monster 17-point second-half comeback win against Johnson & Wales.
It marks the second time in four seasons in the GNAC that Conrad has been named the league's top coach—he also earned the honor in 2013 after aiding the AMCATS to a GNAC regular season title.
Joining Conrad in other major award categories is Victor Ljuljdjuraj of Albertus Magnus College, who was named both the Player and Defensive Player of the Year, and Mike Hogervorst of Norwich, who was tabbed the league's Rookie of the Year.
Mount Ida College was awarded the league's Institutional Sportsmanship Award, and Anna Maria's David Jean-Louis (Miramar, Fla.) was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team, alongside nine other student-athletes from around the league.
2015 GNAC Men's Basketball All-Conference
First Team
Victor Ljuljdjuraj, Albertus Magnus
Tavon Sledge, Albertus Magnus
Tom Garrick, Johnson & Wakes
Quarry Greenaway, Johnson & Wales
Steve Simonds, Saint Joseph's Maine
Second Team
Eian Davis, Albertus Magnus
Lamar Larsen, Albertus Magnus
Pat Bradanese, Anna Maria
Kyle Davis, Emmanuel
Pat Marchand, Lasell
Third Team
Quantez Franklin, Anna Maria
Robert Lewis, Johnson & Wales
Mike Hogervorst, Norwich
Zach Blodgett, Saint Joseph's Maine
Sam Nwadike, Suffolk
Player of the Year – Victor Ljuljdjuraj, Albertus Magnus
Defensive Player of the Year – Victor Ljuljdjuraj, Albertus Magnus
Rookie of the Year – Mike Hogervorst, Norwich
Coach of the Year – Shawn Conrad, Anna Maria
Institutional Sportsmanship Award – Mount Ida College
All-Sportsmanship Team
Med Fofana, Alberus Magnus
David Jean-Louis, Anna Maria
Colin Cordero, Emmanuel
Julian Bolton, Johnson & Wales
Scott Arsenault, Lasell
Brendan Cunningham, Mount Ida
Evan Tullar, Norwich
David Lorden, Rivier
Zach Blodgett, Saint Joseph's Maine
Jake Meister, Suffolk
