Moon Township, Pa. – In a vote of league head coaches, freshman guard
Marcquise Reed of the
Robert Morris University men's basketball team was named the 2015 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year Tuesday. Reed, who garnered a spot on the 2015 All-NEC Rookie Team, also was named to the 2015 All-NEC Second Team along with senior forward
Lucky Jones and junior guard
Rodney Pryor.
A 6'3", 180-pound guard, Reed is the fourth student-athlete in school history to be named the NEC Rookie of the Year, joining Steve Vandiver (1987), Jeremy Chappell (2006) and Karon Abraham (2010). He enters the 2015 NEC Tournament averaging 14.9 points per game, which ranks seventh in the league. He also has posted a team-high 56 steals in 30 games this season, an average of 1.87 thefts per game that ranks second in the circuit. Reed also ranks in the top 20 in three other categories, placing seventh in field goal percentage (.497), 10th in free-throw percentage (.761) and 18th in assists (2.03 per game).
Reed has established a pair of Robert Morris freshman records this year, setting new rookie marks for field goals (167) as well as 20-point scoring games (9). Overall, Reed has scored in double figures in 22 games and has scored 448 points, which ranks second all-time among RMU rookies. In earning All-NEC Second Team honors, Reed is the first freshman to be named to an all-league squad since Darshan Luckey was named to the 2003 All-NEC First Team.
"It's an honor be named NEC Rookie of the Year," Reed said. "It wasn't something I was expecting, but it was one of my goals. All you can do is continue to put in the work and bring energy to every practice and workout, and if you do that good things are going to happen."
The 6'6", 210-pound Jones takes home All-NEC Second Team accolades for the second straight year, and it also marks the fourth consecutive year he has garnered all-league plaudits. Jones was named to the 2012 All-NEC Rookie Team and also garnered a spot on the 2013 All-NEC Third Team. In 26 games this season, Jones has supplied the Colonials with averages of 14.0 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per contest.
RMU's active leader in both points and rebounds, Jones enters the 2015 NEC Tournament ranked sixth all-time in program history with 1,554 points, while his career total of 827 rebounds is tops in school history. He is one of just three players in league history to eclipse career totals of 1,300 points, 700 rebounds, 150 assists and 150 steals. In addition to his career totals in points and rebounds, Jones has recorded 183 dimes and 162 thefts.
Joining Reed and Jones on the 2015 All-NEC Second Team is Pryor, a 6'5", 205-pound guard who leads Robert Morris in scoring at 15.3 points per game while supplying 4.8 rebounds a contest. He ranks sixth in the circuit in scoring and 15th in rebounding while placing second in three-point field goal percentage (.430), fourth in three-point field goals made per game (.227) and eighth in field goal percentage (.484).
Pryor garnered the final NEC Player of the Week nod of the 2014-15 regular season Monday, becoming the first Colonial to earn three NEC Player of the Week accolades in a season since former guard Chipper Harris (1980-84) was honored three times in 1983-84. Pryor has eclipsed the 20-point plateau in each of his last four games, averaging 25.5 points and 5.8 rebounds over that span while shooting 60.7 percent (37-for-61) from the field, including 59.3 percent (16-for-27) from beyond the arc, and 85.7 percent (12-for-14) at the free-throw line.
"It's nice that these guys get recognized for their effort," fifth-year head coach
Andrew Toole said. "All three guys are deserving of being all-conference players, and I think Marcquise was deserving of being rookie of the year. As long as any of those awards are a by-product of winning, I'm all for them."
Led by Toole, Robert Morris is making its 12th consecutive appearance in the NEC Tournament, the longest streak among league institutions. The Colonials hold the No. 2 seed and will host No. 7 seed Wagner in quarterfinal action Wednesday, March 4, in a 7:00 p.m. tip at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
