THREE COBLESKILL HOOPSTERS NAMED TO ALL-MOUNTAIN VALLEY CONFERENCE TEAM-PRICE JACKSON NAMED CONFERENCEPLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR

SUNY Cobleskill senior swingman Prince Jackson, Schenectady, NY, Schenectady High School, has been designated as a First Team selection and named the 2004 Mountain Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year by the league’s coaches. Senior guard Keith Crichlow, Central Islip, NY, Central Islip High School, and freshman center/forward Daniel Pierre, Brooklyn, NY, High School of Art & Design, were also named as Third Team All-Conference selections by the MVC coaches. The Fighting Tigers finished the 2003-04 season with a 25-7 overall record including a 13-5 mark in conference play concluding as the NJCAA Region III Division III Runners-up and ranked sixth in the final NJCAA Division III National Poll.

During the season, Jackson averaged 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 32 starts for the Fighting Tigers this season. The 6’6” swingman connected on 252 of 545 attempts from the field for a 48.1% mark on the year including an impressive 53 of 139 from beyond the three-point stripe. The Schenectady High School alumnus also hit on 102 of 143 attempts from the charity stripe for a 71.3 % average. He closes his career as the program leader in career scoring with 1132 points and finishes fourth in career rebounding with 457 boards. Jackson was also selected to the First Team All-Mountain Valley Conference and the First Team NJCAA All-Region III honors during his rookie campaign. He becomes the fourth Fighting Tiger to be honored as the league’s Player-of-the-Year under current Cobleskill Head Coach Kevin McCarthy.

“When we were recruiting Prince, his high school coach Mark Sausville told us that if Prince could get stronger that he would become a very special player,” said McCarthy. “Mark was absolutely correct in his assessment about what type of basketball player Prince could become. He’s not only one of the best players I’ve coached in my twenty-six years in this business, he’s also one of the best young people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with in that time.”

A 6’2” guard, Keith Crichlow made the transition from reserve to starter in style this season bringing a diversified game to the Fighting Tiger line-up. In 32 starts, the Long Island native averaged 13.1 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per contest. His play throughout the season brought high praise from his head coach.

“Keith’s development as a player was one of the main reasons for our success this year. We needed Keith to become a scorer and distributor this season and he filled those roles very nicely for us,” said Coach McCarthy. “I think he is going to be an excellent addition to someone’s roster next year and that his best basketball is still ahead of him.”

Daniel Pierre brought a strong presence to the Fighting Tiger line-up in the post as the 6’7”freshman center/forward averaged 8.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per contest. The Brooklyn, New Yorker connected on 106 of 211 attempts for a shooting percentage of 50.2%. He also notched 10 double/doubles in points and rebounds during the season. He also established a new program single season mark for rebounds with 358 and currently ranks fourteenth on the program’s career rebounding list after only one season of play.

“Daniel is one of the players that we will be counting heavily next season. He is an outstanding rebounder and is developing his offensive game on a daily basis,” said Coach McCarthy. “The nice thing about Daniel is that he takes instruction very well and that he works very hard in practice. He definitely is going to be a player to watch at our level next year.”

During the tenure of Coach Kevin McCarthy, 30 Fighting Tiger players have now earned All-Mountain Valley Conference honors.