Camper named to 1st team
Siena senior tabbed for Senior CLASS Award
Siena men’s basketball senior guard/forward Manny Camper was named to the first team for the Senior CLASS Award on Friday.
Iowa’s Luke Garza was named the winner. The other first-team members were Mercer’s Ross Cummings, Kansas’ Marcus Garrett and Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert.
The Senior CLASS Award acknowledges excellence both on and off the court. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.
Camper was the first Siena player to make the list of 10 men’s basketball finalists for the award, which is chosen by a nationwide vote of Division I men’s basketball coaches, national basketball media and fans.
Camper was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year this season. He also holds a 3.18 cumulative grade-point average, including a 3.52 during the spring 2020 semester. He’s been active in the community in the Capital Region and in his hometown in Maryland.
Camper, in training for the NBA draft, is currently in Indianapolis playing in the Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship, a $150,000, three-on-three tournament. His team, Metro East Mayhem, went 2-2 on Friday. Metro East Mayhem was awarded $1,000 for each victory.
Ualbany men get recruit
A second Philadelphia area player has committed to next season’s University at Albany basketball team, according to the Delaware Valley Hoops Report.
Paul Newman, a 6-foot-9 low-post player who played four seasons at Bucknell, has agreed to play for new coach Dwayne Killings.
Newman and Matt Cerruti, who announced his decision Wednesday to attend Ualbany, both played in the Philadelphia Catholic League. Cerruti is from Archbishop Wood, and Newman played at Roman Catholic, where new Ualbany assistant Matt Griffin was head coach the past five seasons.
At Bucknell, Newman started 10 of 12 games, averaging 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in 17.2 minutes. He played 96 games, including 32 starts, over his four-year career, averaging 3.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 12.9 minutes. He did not play in the 2019-20 game when Bucknell edged Ualbany, 75-74.
Eleven of the 15 players on this season’s Great Danes rosters have entered the transfer portal or opted out of the program, although some of those players could return.