The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s basketball teams had a few of their players honored at the 51st annual CUNYAC luncheon that took place at the Water Club in Manhattan. The men had two representatives on the day, Will Fonseca and Frank Schettino, while the women had three honorees, Samantha Flecker, Nicole Vierno, and Christina Pasaturo.
The afternoon was kicked off first with a motivational speech by the Army ROTC explaining to the student-athletes what a wonderful opportunity they have being able to play a sport in college.
When the awards ceremony switched over from the community colleges to the senior colleges it was the men who were called upon first. Junior guard Frank Schettino was named to the CUNYAC Second-team All-Star squad. Schettino started the season off in dramatic fashion and scored a career high 43 points against Colby College.
Schettino’s fast start would come to an abrupt stop when he was sidelined with an injury before coming back and ended the regular season averaging 15.3 points per game as well as 5.7 assists per game.
Next for the men was Will Fonseca who won the CUNYAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row.
Fonseca capped off his senior regular season averaging 23.6 points per game and grabbing 9.9 rebounds both of which were near the top of the CUNYAC. Fonseca is an unstoppable force on the court and opposing teams can only hope to contain him and limit the damage he can cause.
Fonseca and Schettino now have five days until their next game which will take place on Tuesday, February 23 at CCNY in the CUNYAC Semifinal round after securing a bye for finishing the season as the No. 2 seed.
After the men came the women and the CUNYAC Second-team All-Stars were announced. Samantha Flecker had a much improved sophomore campaign. Flecker posted 3.7 points per game and averaged 1.6 rebounds per game. What a difference a year can make, Flecker was the second highest scorer on the Dolphins this season with 15.4 points per game and led the team with 8.4 rebounds per game.
2014 CUNYAC Rookie of the Year Christina Pasaturo was named to the CUNYAC First Team All-Star squad for the 2015 season. Pasaturo led the Dolphins in scoring on the year with 18 points per game and also led CSI in assists per game with 6.5. Pasaturo paired with Flecker will hope to lead the Dolphins to a CUNYAC Championship title.
Nicole Vierno was named 2015 CUNYAC Rookie of the Year after a solid rookie campaign. Vierno finished the regular season averaging 8.8 points per game with 4.9 rebounds per game and 38 blocks. Vierno was the big player the Dolphins have been missing in past years and will be a crucial part of the team in the CUNYAC Postseason.
