Azums, Fernandez Named to All-CCC Team

BOSTON, Mass. – Two members of the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team have been honored by the Commonwealth Coast Conference as all-conference selections, including one getting the nod for the third straight season. The announcement was made after the CCC released its 2019-2020 all-conference honorees and major award winners on Monday afternoon.

Taking home the top honors were Gordon's Eric Demers (Acushnet, Mass.) and Nichols' Nate Tenaglia (Tewksbury, Mass.) who were named the Player and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. Meanwhile, two student-athletes were recognized as the top first-year performers as both Siddiq Canty (Dallas, Texas) from the University of New England and Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) from Endicott were named Rookie of the Year. Salve Regina's Tyler Benjamin (Fitchburg, Mass.) was this year's CCC Scholar-Athlete. Endicott head coach Kevin Bettencourt won Coach of the Year and Curry received the Team Sportsmanship award.

Voting for the All-CCC Teams and major awards was conducted by the nine CCC head men's basketball coaches following the conclusion of the regular season.

For the Leopards, senior Stephen Azums (Hyde Park, Mass.) and sophomore Kevin Fernandez (Lawrence, Mass.) were both named Second Team All-CCC.

Azums picks up his third straight second team nod after averaging 12.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while shooting 54.7 percent from the floor in 25 games thus far. He has also recorded 15 double-doubles on the season. At the conference level, he is first in double-doubles and second in rebounds per game while, across Division III, he is 10th in double-doubles and 20th in rebounds per game. On November 23 he became the program's all-time leading rebounds and presently has 937 total caroms. In 96 career games, he has a program-best .608 field goal percentage and 9.8 rebounds per game while ranking third in free throws made (314), fifth in field goals made (515), and sixth in scoring (1,344).

Fernandez enjoyed a fine first season with the Black & Gold after transferring from Southern New Hampshire. In 20 games (15 starts), he averaged a team-high 14.8 points to go along with 3.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while leading the team in three pointers made with 41. His career-high 26 points came in the Leopards' 80-67 win at Western New England which clinched a berth in the CCC Tournament. He also recorded a career-high nine rebounds in a 76-53 win over Nichols on January 25.

Wentworth finished the regular season with a 15-10 record and tied for fourth in CCC play with an 8-8 mark. The Leopards will be making their 15th consecutive CCC Tournament berth when they travel to fourth-seeded Salve Regina for a first-round matchup tomorrow (February 25) night.

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