Eley, Mevius top rookies
Saints get both honors for first time in sane year
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Siena basketball freshmen Michael Eley and Elisa Mevius play one-onone sometimes. They’ll expand it to two-on-two with sophomores Javian Mcollum and Valencia Fontenelle-posson and switch sides.
“It’s always fun,” Mevius said. “A little trashtalking and compete.”
Eley and Mevius each have something to boast about now. They were named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s Men’s and Women’s Rookie of the Year, respectively, on Wednesday morning at the league’s awards ceremony at Boardwalk Hall, as voted on by MAAC head coaches.
It’s the first time in program history Siena freshmen have taken the men’s and women’s honor in the same year.
“It really wasn’t in my mind (before the season),” Eley said. “My biggest thing was just winning and making sure we had a good record this year. But I mean, as the games progressed and stuff, it was kind of in the back of my mind. I’m more concerned about winning.”
Eley averages 9.2 points for the fourth-seeded Saints (17-14), who take on No. 5 Niagara at 9:30 p.m. Thursday in a MAAC quarterfinal at Boardwalk Hall. He came off the bench his first 27 games before starting the regular-season finale at Saint Peter’s in a small lineup.
Meanwhile, Mevius is the starting point guard averaging 10.5 points and 4.0 assists per game for the No. 4 Siena women (18-12), who meet No. 5 Fairfield at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinal.
“Maybe at the beginning, when we found out they have those (MAAC) Rookie of the Week awards, kind of it was a goal,” Mevius said. “Before that, I didn’t know it was a thing.”
Mevius, from Grunberg, Germany, won Rookie of the Week four times and Player of the Week once. She was outdone by her teammate, freshman guard Teresa Seppala of Tampere, Finland, who won Rookie of the Week six times. But Mevius plays arguably the most important position on the court. She was also named third-team ALL-MAAC.
“To be honest, I thought it was going to be (Seppala) because she gets more of those Rookie of the Weeks,” Mevius said. “But at the end, I would be happy for her. She was happy for me. We support each other.”
Eley, from Fort Wayne, Ind., said before the season he wanted to prove coaches wrong who didn’t recruit him. He acknowledged Wednesday’s award helped affirm that.
“I would say that’s a statement, yeah, definitely,” Eley said.
Siena men’s coach Carmen Maciariello said he also nominated Eley for Sixth Player of the Year, which went to Fairfield’s TJ Long.
“He’s a scorer,” Maciariello said. “You’ve got to be able to score the ball, especially in the MAAC. It’s a guard’s league. But he’s able to get his shot off pretty effortlessly. Tremendous athlete, gives us another guy that can get
to the offensive boards.”
Eley is Siena’s fifth male to win Rookie of the Year and Mevius is the sixth Saints female so honored.
One Siena player omitted at Wednesday’s awards show was Siena sophomore guard Jared Billups, who did not win MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. That instead went to co-winners Josh Roberts, a Manhattan forward, and Berrick Jeanlouis, an Iona guard.
Billups, who wasn’t at the ceremony, immediately tweeted “LOL.” Mccollum did the same when he was named to the ALL-MAAC third team on Monday.
“Hey, we’ll let our play speak for ourselves,” Maciariello said. “Obviously, guys didn’t vote for him. I can’t vote for my own guys. … You can’t worry about the past. We’re here now and people voted for who they did. At the end of the day, we’ve got to come to work.”
Iona’s Rick Pitino (for the second straight year) and Billi Chambers were named MAAC Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year. Iona’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Juana Camilion swept the Player of the Year awards.