AUS Awards: Capers Take MVP & Coach of the year, Klassen Defensive POY, DJ Smith Break Out Rookie

The second ranked team in the nation walked away with two major awards on Thursday night. Jimmy Dorsey and Head Coach Matt Skinn represented Caper nation with AUS  MVP and Coach of the Year respectively.

Dorsey averaged 20.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game en route to his second straight most valuable player award.

Matt Skinn led the Capers to a 19-1 season in the AUS conference in his first year, and are favourites to walk away with the conference championship heading into the weekends AUS playoffs.

In his first year as the Capers bench boss, Skinn will be the AUS nominee for the national coach of the year award. If Skinn wins he will be the first AUS coach to do so since 2001.

Acadia’s Owen Klassen came away with defensive player of the year honors on Thursday.

Klassen led the conference in rebounds per game at 10.8, and finished second in the conference in blocks at 1.4 per contest.

The Axemen rode their defense first mentality to the second best record in the Atlantic, holding teams to a measly 68 points against.

Deontay “DJ” Smith shocked the country as the North Preston contingent came into UPEI quietly and left his first season with a bang. Smith averaged 17 points, 7 rebounds and over 4 assists per game, leading the Panthers in each category; not bad for a rookie.

Awards:

MVP: Jimmy Dorsey, Cape Breton

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Deontay Smith, UPEI

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Owen Klassen, Acadia

COACH OF THE YEAR: Matt Skinn, Cape Breton

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Harry Ezenibe, Saint Mary’s

First team all-stars:

Jimmy Dorsey, Cape Breton (5th year – Baltimore, Maryland)

Owen Klassen, Acadia (4th year – Kingston, Ont.)

Jeremy Dunn, StFX (5th year – Wolfville, N.S.)

Deontay Smith, UPEI (1st year – North Preston, N.S.)

Will McFee, UNB (3rd year – Northbridge, Australia)

Second team all-stars:

Harry Ezenibe, Saint Mary’s (4th year – Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria)

Anthony Ashe, Acadia (4th year – Stittsville, Ont.)

Simon Marr, Dalhousie (4th year – Saint John, N.B.)

AJ Geugjes, Cape Breton (2nd year – Amsterdam, Netherlands)

William Yengue, Dalhousie (4th – Douala, Cameroon)

All-rookie team:

Deontay Smith, UPEI (North Preston, N.S.)

Shaquille Keith, Cape Breton (Brampton, Ont.)

Kevin Thomas, Saint Mary’s (Malton, Ont.)

Mandrez Downey, UPEI (North Preston, N.S.)

Vasilije Curcic, Memorial (Kragujevas, Serbia)