Fresh off of their first winning season in eight years, five UMBC men’s basketball players received various all conference honors. Five players were voted to receive the honors by the America East Conference coaching staffs – the most the men’s basketball program has had in 14 seasons.
Senior forward Will Darley and junior guard Jairus Lyles earned AEC second team All-Conference honors. Both men aided in the Retrievers basketball renaissance. Lyles, in his first full season since transferring from Virginia Commonwealth University, averaged 19 points, good for second in the AEC and 6.4 rebounds per game, both team highs. In addition, Lyles also led the team in usage rate and posted the highest player efficiency rating on the team.
Darley enjoyed the best season of his UMBC career. The Timonium native averaged 15.7 points and 3.9 boards with a .484/.447/.887 shooting line. Darley ranked ninth in the AEC in scoring and the team leaned on his production heavily as he finished second on the team in usage. Both Lyles and Darley led the team with 3.4 win shares, while both also managed to hit a milestone and record their 1,000th career points.
Sophomore guard K.J. Maura also recieved end of the season honors. The junior college transfer made the AEC All-Defense team. In his first season as a Retriever, Maura averaged 1.9 steals per game, the best in the conference, and finished second on the team in defensive rating and defensive win shares. On the offensive side of the ball, Maura also ranked fourth in the AEC in assists per game.
Freshman guard/forward Arkel Lamar often brought good energy coming off the bench for the Retrievers. The AEC recognized his efforts with an All-Rookie team selection. Lamar averaged 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in nearly 15 minutes per game. Lamar’s 20.3 percent rebounding rate was the highest for any Retriever who logged at least 416 minutes.
Sophomore forward Joe Sherburne rounded out the honored Retrievers. Sherburne was named to the AEC All-Academic team. The 6’6″ sharpshooter averaged 11.2 points and led the AEC in three point field goal percentage. Sherburne also got done in the classroom with a pristine 4.0 GPA. The honor comes to Sherburne from UMBC, as each the AEC All-Academic team is picked by each player’s school.
The squad of all-stars will continue to impress on the court this year as they get ready to compete in the College-Insider Postseason Tournament. The Retrievers will open the tourney on March 15 against Fairfield University at 7 p.m. in the RAC.
