Trio of Ravens Led by Ellis Cooper Earn NE-10 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors
Ryen Vilmont named to Second-Team; Donte Gittens named to All-Rookie Team
RINDGE, N.H. (February 28, 2014) – A trio of
Franklin Pierce University men’s basketball standouts, led by
senior forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.),
garnered all-conference accolades from the Northeast-10 Conference
on Friday.
Cooper earned All-NE-10 First-Team honors for the second time in three seasons, while junior forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) landed on the second-team, and freshman guard Donte Gittens (Hartford, Conn.) was placed on the all-rookie team.
Cooper earned first-team honors from the NE-10 as a sophomore in 2012, and picked up second-team accolades as a junior in 2013. Friday’s latest honor added another chapter to his amazing collegiate career, as he definitely ranks as one of the finest players in program and NE-10 history.
He has started 20 of 21 games played in this season, and despite battling an injury midway through the campaign, still ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 18.5 points per game. Cooper ranks among the top-10 in the league in several other categories including field goal percentage (56.9%), free throws made (7th, 105), total offensive rebounds (9th, 67), rebounds per game (6th, 8.2), and steals (5th, 43).
Cooper has scored in double-figures in 20 games this season, and has topped 20 points over his last four contests. His finest performance of the season was a monster 27-point, 15-rebound effort in an 89-69 win at Assumption on Dec. 1. However, his most inspiring performance came back on Feb. 11 in his first game back from injury, as he logged 25 points (9-of-14 shooting) and ripped down 12 rebounds in a 76-75 win over Southern New Hampshire.
Cooper becomes just the fifth player in program history to earn multiple first-team all-conference honors since the school joined the NCAA in 1988. He joins Rob Nurse, Ben Mitchell, and Donald Edge, who earned First-Team All-NECC honors in the 1990s, and Eric Jean-Guillaume, who picked up back-to-back First-Team All-NE-10 accolades in 2012 and 2013.
Vilmont was recognized by the NE-10 for the second time in his
career, as he was also placed on the all-rookie team as a freshman
back in 2012. Vilmont averaged 16.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per
game, while shooting 46.7 percent from both the field and from
three-point range. He ranked fourth in the NE-10 in three-point
shooting, as his 78 triples were the third highest mark in the
conference. He also led the NE-10 in free throw percentage at 90.5
percent, while ranking 13th in scoring.
He pumped in a career-high 33 points against Southern Connecticut State on Jan. 25, and in the process, went over 1,000 points for his career.
Gittens earned the nod to this year’s all-rookie team for his impressive all-around play at both ends of the court. He averaged 9.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while also ranking third in the league with 44 blocks.
He made a major statement in his collegiate debut on Nov. 9 at Mansfield as he hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to lift the Ravens to a 74-71 triumph in the season opener. Gittens also pumped in a career-high 19 points in a win at Merrimack on Nov. 23.
The trio will lead the Ravens into the postseason on Sunday when Franklin Pierce plays host to Le Moyne in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Championship. The game tips at 3 p.m., and will be played at The Fieldhouse in Rindge.
For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu. To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)