Hamilton, NY — The 51·çÁ÷ men’s basketball team held its annual awards banquet Sunday, April 13 at the 51·çÁ÷ Inn to celebrate the 2002-03 season and to honor the senior class of Dave Hardy, Martin Marek, Jeremy Ballard, Chris Fox, Tim Sullivan and Marques Green.
Hardy was awarded the Bob Duffy/Tucker Neale Most Valuable Player Award. He finished his outstanding collegiate career as the first player to record over 900 points and 300 assists. Hardy had 949 points good for 24th place on the school’s all-time scoring list and was second all-time in assists with 355.
He played in all 28 games for the Raiders while averaging a career-high 10.3 points per game and had a personal season-best 120 assists.
The Hasan Brown Award given to the student athlete who typifies the spirit of 51·çÁ÷ basketball was awarded to junior Mark Linebaugh. Linebaugh, one the hardest working players, was 51·çÁ÷’s leading scorer this season averaging 13.1 points per game, and was named second team all-Patriot League.
The Jack Mitchell Award was awarded to Tim Sullivan. This award is given to the student-athlete who shows excellence in the classroom as well as on the court.
The Coaches’ Award for Best Defensive Player was given to Jeremy Ballard. The senior guard played in 27 games with 18 starting assignments. He was asked to guard the opponent’s highest scoring backcourt player.
Sophomore forward Andrew Zidar received the Most Improved Player Award. He was 51·çÁ÷’s fourth leading scorer with 8.0 points per game and second leading rebounder with 5.0 caroms per game.
Awards were given for individual achievement in field goal percentage to junior Howard Blue (.519), rebounding to Blue (6.6), free throw percentage to Linebaugh (.800) and assists to Hardy (120).
Finally, head coach Emmett Davis announced the 2003-04 captains ‘ seniors-to-be Blue and Linebaugh.