Mid-American Conference

Cleveland, Ohio - Today the Mid-American Conference announced that Ball State’s Zavier Turner, Eastern Michigan’s Da’Shonte Riley and Akron’s Jake Kretzer have earned top honors for the 2013-14 basketball season. Turner was named Freshman of the Year, while Riley was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Krezter was tabbed as the MAC Sixth Man of the Year. The Freshman of the Year award was voted on by a 25-member MAC News Media Association Panel, while the Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year were voted on by the league’s head coaches.

 

Turner has played a prominent role as Ball State’s point guard in his rookie campaign. He ranks fourth in the league in 3-point percentage (.418), sixth in assists per game (3.6) and ninth in minutes per game (32.6), leading MAC freshmen in each of those categories. The Indianapolis native also leads the league’s freshmen with 12.0 points per game and ranks fourth on Ball State’s all-time list for rookie scoring with 348 points. Turner is the sixth player in Ball State history to win the honor joining Ray McCallum (1980), Bonzi Wells (1995), Theron Smith (2000), Maurice Acker (2006) and Jarrod Jones (2009).

 

“I am proud of Zavier for this well-deserved honor,” Ball State head coach James Whitford said. “We put a tremendous amount of responsibility on his shoulders as just a freshman, and he has handled it great. He runs our team, leads us in assists and is one of our top scorers. He has had a very good first year, and he has a bright future ahead of him.”

 

Kretzer is the fourth Zip to earn the honor, joining current teammate Quincy Diggs (2012), Brett McKnight (2009) and Cedrick Middleton (2007). Kretzer appeared in 26 games, making seven starts, this season for the Zips. He closed the regular season averaging 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. He hit his stride during MAC play, averaging 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

 

“Jake is one of those players with an unbelievable winning attitude that he brings to the court every day,” head coach Keith Dambrot said. “He is the type of player, like Quincy Diggs, Brett McKnight and Cedric Middleton, that could have started but chose to play the sixth-man role to help our team win games and our program grow to where it is today.”

 

Riley is the first EMU student-athlete to win the award since the history of its inception during the 1997-98 season.    The Detroit, Mich. native finished the regular season with 87 blocks, while averaging 2.8 rejections per contest, which is the best in the MAC. The senior rejected five-or-more blocks in seven games, and four-or more in 10. Riley has been an important piece of the 2-3 zone defense, which ranked as the top field goal defense in the country.

 

"It's an incredible accomplishment for Da'Shonte to be named Defensive Player of the Year in the MAC," stated Head Coach Rob Murphy. "My staff and I are extremely proud to have coached the first player to ever win the award in EMU's history. He has anchored our 2-3 zone the last three seasons which has helped us become one of the top defenses in the nation. He is very deserving of the honor and is a large part of why we finished the season with the best field goal defense in the country."

 

The MAC Player of the Year & Coach of the Year awards will be announced tomorrow. MAC Men’s Basketball Second Round games will take place tomorrow night as well when No. 5 Ohio takes on No. 8 Miami (6:30 p.m., TWCS/ESPN3), while No. 6 Eastern Michigan battles No. 7 Northern Illinois 30 min following the conclusion of game one. For more information visit MAC Tournament Central by clicking HERE.

 

Zavier Turner, Ball State, G (18 votes)

Shannon Evans, Buffalo, G (5)

Aaric Armstead, Northern Illinois G (1)

Braylon Rayson, Central Michigan G (1)