Northeast Conference Release
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - LIU men's basketball senior co-captains Jerome Frink and Iverson Fleming took home two of the major yearly awards in the Northeast Conference, it was revealed by the league office Tuesday afternoon. Frink was chosen as the NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year, while Fleming was voted the league's Most Improved Player. Frink was also named First Team All-NEC, while Fleming earned Third Team All-NEC honors. Freshman Jashaun Agosto was also honored by the league's coaches, as he was named to the NEC All-Rookie Team.
The honorees were announced this afternoon as a prelude to the 2017 NEC Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins on Wednesday with quarterfinal play at four campus sites.
It took Frink just two years at LIU Brooklyn to help restore the Blackbirds to elite status in the NEC. After transferring from FIU following his sophomore year, the Jersey City native quickly developed into the franchise piece head coach Jack Perri could build around. He collected All-NEC first team honors as a junior before becoming the eighth LIU Brooklyn player to earn NEC Player of the Year honors in his senior campaign. Sporting a polished low post game, a reliable mid-range shot, the ability to connect from downtown and the vision to spot an open man, the 6'7" Frink is the total package. He enters the postseason third in the NEC with 17.1 ppg, and ranks second in the league with 8.9 rpg and 13 double-doubles. Frink is also tenth on the circuit in blocks (1.0), and averages 2.3 apg to rank second on the Blackbirds. This past Thursday the two-time NEC Player of the Week crossed the 1,000-point plateau in his time at LIU and has compiled over 1,600 points in his college career. Frink joins Carey Scurry (1983-84 & 1984-85), Joe Griffin (1994-95), Charles Jones (1996-97 & 1997-98), Julian Boyd (2011-12) and Jamal Olasewere (2012-13) as LIU Brooklyn student-athletes voted NEC Player of the Year.
Fleming's emergence as a go-to scorer and crunch time player for LIU Brooklyn did not go unnoticed by NEC head coaches. After spending much of his first three years as a backup point guard and spot starter, Fleming flourished with his move off the ball this season. He boosted his scoring average from 4.9 ppg as a junior 14.5 ppg this season, the second biggest bump in the league. Fleming is currently seventh in the NEC in scoring, tenth in free throw percentage (.771) and 15th in steals (1.4). A three-time NEC Player of the Week, Fleming has drained a team-high 48 shots from three-point territory. He scored the last seven points and hit the game-winning jumper in LIU's 74-73 win over St. John's on December 11, and made key plays down the stretch in late season wins over Bryant, FDU, Sacred Heart, Mount St. Mary's and Wagner. Fleming, who hails from North Brunswick, NJ, is the first Blackbirds to take home Most Improved Player honors. He was also named to the All-NEC third team.
Agosto started from day one at the point for LIU Brooklyn, and by the end of the regular season looked every bit the crafty floor general. With blinding quickness and elite athleticism, Agosto excelled both in transition and in a drive-and-dish capacity, and developed a reliable floater en-route to averaging 11.0 ppg and a team-high 3.0 apg.
Frink, Fleming, Agosto and the rest of the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team host No. 7 seed Robert Morris for the first round of the NEC Tournament, Wednesday, March 1 at 9 p.m.