INTERVIEWS – The City University of New York Athletic Conference announced its host of year-end basketball honors today at their postseason kick-off luncheon at New York City’s Water Club, and CSI was highlighted in kind as both Frank Schettino and Christina Pasaturo took home Player of the Year on their respective sides. Head Coaches Tony Petosa and Tim Shanahan also took top coaching honors while a total of seven others earned on to all-star and sportsmanship teams.
Alongside the major award winners, men’s basketball interior threat Khaleeq Baum earned on the CUNYAC 1st-team and Kevon Murphy was named a 2nd-team All-Star, while Edin Bracic was named to the All-Sportsmanship team while serving as the conference’s designee for Defensive Player of the Year. On the women’s ledger, Samantha Flecker and Victoria Crea earned 2nd-team All-Star nods, while Nicole Imbesi was a member of the All-Sportsmanship team.
Loaded with plenty of talent on both sides, it was hard to bet against Schettino this year for Player of the Year honors. The senior leads the nation in assists, assists per game, free-throw attempts, and triple-doubles, having broken his own single season assist record and setting single game CSI highs for assists (17) and points (43). Most recently, Schettino broke the school’s all-time steals record, and he ranks 9th nationally in that category with 65 thefts this season. Schettino leads the squad with 17.9 points and 9.4 assists per game, pouring in 6.9 rebounds per contest as well.
Second-year senior transfer Baum has enjoyed a stellar campaign with the Dolphins, leading the squad with 7.9 rebounds while placing second on the team with 13.5 points per game. He places third on the team with 15 blocked shots and leads all Dolphins with a 73% shooting touch from the free-throw line. Baum has been complemented all year by the resurgent play of Kevon Murphy who is having a breakout junior season, complete with 12.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. He stands second on the team with 17 blocks and his 54% stroke from the field this season is tops on the squad.
For his leadership and displays of sportsmanship Edin Bracic was named as CSI’s liaison to the CUNYAC’s All-Sportsmanship Team, and his defensive prowess was enough to make him the CUNYAC representative when the region selects its best defensive player later this year.
Rounding out the men’s winners was Petosa, who capped the Dolphins’ fourth undefeated CUNYAC campaign in program history. For Petosa it was his seventh Coach of the Year citation and his fifth in the past seven years. The Dolphins are on the cusp of what could be their sixth 20+ win season in the past seven years and the Dolphins have won 13 straight games going into the postseason, the fourth longest win streak in CSI history.
In a razor-close vote, the former CUNYAC Rookie of the Year Pasaturo took home her first Player of the Year laurel after a stellar regular season. Pasaturo leads the nation in three-pointers with 96, coming close to the school’s all-time single season record of 107. The junior is averaging a robust 22.4 points per game with 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest. She also leads the squad defensively with 22 blocked shots and 81 steals. The guard has a realistic shot to break the school’s all-time point-scoring record already boasting 1,503 career points. She is the first Dolphin in history to post back-to-back 500+ point seasons.
Samantha Flecker has been just as potent as an interior threat, posting 15.8 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game. The fellow junior is third on the team with 65 assists and 12 blocks and second with 74 steals. Flecker also stands second on the squad in minutes played, free-throw percentage and field goal percentage.
Point guard Victoria Crea sat out all of last year due to injury but returned to all-star form, averaging a solid 10.5 points to go with 5.1 rebounds and 94 assists, good for second on the squad. Crea has averaging just under 31 minutes per contest at the point guard position, providing tremendous defense as well to the mix.
Nicole Imbesi was named as a CSI representative to the CUNYAC All-Sportsmanship team. Meanwhile, CSI skipper Tim Shanahan took home his second Coach of the Year honor this afternoon. The Dolphins finished the regular season with a 19-6 record, at one point reeling off 11-straight wins as the team sat atop the conference longer than any other school. CSI will enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
