March 1, 2006

Center Valley, Pa. - Bucknell University's Charles Lee (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) was named the 2006 Patriot League Player of the Year, becoming the first Bison since Mike Bright in 1993 to earn the League's top honor, Patriot League Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich announced. Lee was joined by four of his teammates and Head Coach Pat Flannery Wednesday as the 2006 All-Patriot League Teams, All-Patriot League Rookie Team and men's basketball Player, Coach, Defensive Player and Rookie of the Year awards were announced after a vote by the Patriot League's head coaches.

Flannery was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year for the third time in his career, and first since 1997. Holy Cross senior guard Kevin Hamilton (Queens Village, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy), the 2004-05 Patriot League Player of the Year, was named the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year, while American University's Derrick Mercer (Jersey City, N.J./St. Anthony's) became the second Eagle in three seasons to be named Patriot League Rookie of the Year.

Four of the five First-Team All-Patriot League members are on the squad for the second-straight season, with Lee leading the way. Lee is joined on the First-Team by teammate Chris McNaughton (Leuterhausen,Germany/Dientzenhofer) and Holy Cross' Hamilton and junior guard Keith Simmons (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston). The group is joined by first-time First-Team member, Lehigh junior guard Jose Olivero (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson).

Bucknell senior Kevin Bettencourt (Peabody, Mass./Peabody) headlines the All-Patriot League Second-Team, a two-time All-Patriot honoree, Bettencourt is also joined by a familiar face on the All-Patriot squad, American junior Andre Ingram (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs), who received a first-team nod in 2004-05. Three scholar-athletes make their All-Patriot League Team debut as Holy Cross junior guard Torey Thomas (White Plains, N.Y./Trinity Catholic), Lehigh senior Joe Knight (Columbia, Tenn./High Point) and Lafayette senior Andrei Capusan (Bucharest, Romania/St. John's College) round out the second-team.

Mercer headlines the 2006 All-Patriot League Rookie team. His selection marks the third Eagle named to the team in the last four years. Joining Mercer is Lafayette freshman guard Andrew Brown (Littleton, Colo./Heritage), Holy Cross freshman forward Alex Vander Baan (Whitinsville, Mass./Whitinsville Christian), Navy freshman guard Kaleo Kina (El Mirage, Ariz./Trevor Browne) and Bucknell freshman guard Jason Vegotsky (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury).

Bucknell and Holy Cross lead the All-Patriot League team with three players each, one shy of the all-time Patriot League record of four players by Holy Cross in 1992-93. This is the ninth time in Patriot League history that the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year have come from the same school. This year's All-Patriot League team has an international flavor with both Romania and Germany being represented by Capusan and McNaughton, respectively.

All-Patriot League First-Team
Charles Lee, Bucknell (senior, guard)
Kevin Hamilton, Holy Cross (senior, guard)
Jose Olivero, Lehigh (junior, guard)
Keith Simmons, Holy Cross (junior, guard)
Chris McNaughton, Bucknell (junior, center)

All-Patriot League Second-Team
Kevin Bettencourt, Bucknell (senior, guard)
Joe Knight, Lehigh (senior, guard)
Torey Thomas, Holy Cross (junior, guard)
Andre Ingram, American (junior, guard)
Andrei Capusan, Lafayette (senior, forward)

All-Patriot League Rookie Team
Derrick Mercer, American (freshman, guard)
Andrew Brown, Lafayette (freshman, guard)
Alex Vander Baan, Holy Cross (freshman, forward)
Kaleo Kina, Navy (freshman, guard)
Jason Vegotsky, Bucknell (freshman, guard)

Player of the Year Charles Lee, Bucknell
Coach of the Year Pat Flannery, Bucknell
Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Hamilton, Holy Cross
Rookie of the Year Derrick Mercer, American