Smith Tabbed As Northeast-10 Men's Basketball Freshman Of Year, McLaughlin Earns League Coach Of Year Accolades As Three Skyhawks Earn All-Conference Honors

March 2, 2006

Stonehill College freshman forward Nick Smith was named earlier today as the 2005-2006 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year in a vote of the league's coaches, while his mentor, third-year Skyhawk Head Coach David McLaughlin, was named by his peers as the 2005 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Raymond P. Pepin Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.

Additionally, three individuals earned all-conference accolades for their performances this season for Stonehill, as senior Marquis Taylor was named to the first-team all-conference squad while fellow seniors Chris Kraus and Sean Nelson earned third-team all-league honors.

Smith, a native of Colonia, N.J. and a graduate of Colonia High School, becomes the third Stonehill rookie to be tabbed as the Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year, joining former standouts Rajohn Odom (1994-95) and Jon Cronin (1988-89) in garnering the honor. Smith, a three-time selection as Northeast-10 Freshman of the Week this season, has averaged 8.1 points and 3.9 rebounds to date in a sixth-man role for the Skyhawks, as he ranks third on the team with 35 three-pointers on the year. Smith has reached the 20-point plateau on two occasions this season, netting a career-high 21 points and five three-pointers in Stonehill's 80-55 victory at Assumption on February 21st that gave the Skyhawks a share of the Northeast-10 regular season championship with Bentley, the program's first conference title since the 1997-98 campaign.

McLaughlin becomes the fourth Stonehill mentor in school history to be named as the Northeast-10 Coach of the Year, joining former Skyhawk coaches David DeCiantis (1997-98), the late Pepin (1986-87 and 1991-92) and the late Tom Folliard (1980-81 and 1981-82). Over the last two seasons alone, McLaughlin has guided Stonehill to an overall mark of 42-13 (.764), including back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time since Folliard guided the Skyhawks to back-to-back 21-win seasons in 1980-81 and 1981-82.

Taylor leads Stonehill in both scoring and rebounding to date at 15.9 ppg and 6.6 caroms per contest in earning his first all-Northeast-10 honor, while Kraus adds 10.9 ppg and leads the conference in both assists (5.6 apg) and steals (2.3 spg) to date. Nelson is the second leading scorer for the Skyhawks to date at 13.4 ppg while adding 5.7 rebounds per contest.

Stonehill, currently 22-5 overall and ranked 15th nationally in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches poll, has amassed the second highest single-season win total in school history to date and currently sits atop the NCAA Northeast Regional rankings.