LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- Head coach
Damien Blair earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division Coach of the Year honors and
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover), Davante Dennis (Baltimore, Md./Red Lion), and Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) earned All-League honors it was announced by the league office on Thursday afternoon.
Allen and Dennis were First Team honorees, marking the second year in which West Chester landed two players on the First Team, while Walker found his way onto the Second Team after a strong regular season. After receiving this same honor last March, Allen is now a two-time First Team All-League honoree, while Walker and Dennis earn All-PSAC honors for the first time in their Golden Ram careers.
Following a regular season, which saw West Chester match its single-season program win record with 23 victories and a mere five losses, head coach
Damien Blair was named PSAC East Coach of the Year for the first time in his illustrious career at the helm of the Purple and Gold. Blair is also the first men's basketball coach in league history to earn Coach of the Year honors after being a Rookie and two-time Player of the Year honoree during his outstanding playing career for West Chester in the 1990s.
After dropping their first two games of the season, West Chester rebounded and rattled off 12 straight victories to place itself squarely in the conversation for an NCAA Tournament bid and potential PSAC East Regular Season crown in early January. After this early January setback at ESU, West Chester went 11-2 down the stretch of the regular season and earned at least a split vs every team in the PSAC East after exacting revenge against Millersville and East Stroudsburg in Hollinger in late January. The Golden Rams' win over Millersville on the final Wednesday of the regular season lifted Blair, who also won his 300
th career game earlier this season vs Mansfield, and the Golden Rams to their second PSAC East Regular Season crown in three years and first outright title since 2006. The Golden Rams title in 2006 was the final regular season crown of head coach Dick DeLaney's storied career and led to the longtime head coach earning PSAC East Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time his career.
In his final collegiate season, Allen has been nothing short of spectacular for the Golden Rams, averaging a team-best 15.6 points per game on 38.0 % shooting from the field, including 44 makes from three-point range, while also going 106-for-126 (84.1 %) at the free-throw line. Allen has scored in double figures in 22 of 27 games this season and led West Chester in scoring in 13 of those 22 games, helping guide the Golden Rams to a mark of 11-2 in such games. In recent weeks, the senior guard has found another gear, scoring in double figures in all but three PSAC East games, including each of the last six and 10 of 12 since a 21-point effort against Shippensburg on January 18. Allen's 27-point effort at Pitt-Johnstown just before the Holiday break served as the highest single-game scoring effort on the team for much of the season until
Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, Pa./ANC) scored 30 in the regular-season finale at Kutztown on Saturday. In addition to his scoring, Allen averaged 4.9 rebounds per game (133) on the year, which ranks among the best on the team, while his 1.9 assists per game is third best on the squad.
In his first season as a Golden Ram after transferring in from Division I University of Incarnate Word over the Summer, Dennis finished the regular season second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.0 points per game on 51.9 % shooting from the field, including 22 makes from three-point range. He also averages 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The junior forward has scored in double figures in 14 games for West Chester so far this season, including two of the last three, as he chipped in 13 at Bloomsburg and 14 at Kutztown in the final two road games of the regular season. This also includes a stretch, which saw him score in double figures in five straight and seven-of-nine, beginning with a 12-point effort at Shepherd on January 3
rd and concluding with a 15-point game at Lock Haven on February 1.
Walker is the Golden Rams' final All-League honoree and the lone Second Team selection as the senior forward makes his first career appearance on the All-PSAC East squad. Walker, who completed his third season as a Golden Ram in 2024-25 after transferring in from Division I Radford, ended the year third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.6 points per game, while his 7.1 rebounds per game is best on the team and among the league leaders. Walker enters the PSAC Tournament shooting 47.0 % from the field and 64.0 % from the stripe, and is tied with
Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) for the team lead in double-doubles with four on the season. Similarly to Dennis, Walker has scored in double figures in 14 games for West Chester this season, including a 23-point effort vs Seton Hill in the final game of 2024. He led the team in scoring in three games this season, including twice in a three-game stretch after pouring in 19 in a win over Caldwell earlier in December. He also tied for the team lead in scoring in a win over East Stroudsburg earlier in February, which gave West Chester control of the PSAC East heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
West Chester saw its PSAC Tournament run end Wednesday night in the PSAC Quarterfinals at home against fourth-seeded Millersville by an 85-71 final. The Golden Rams will now wait for the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Selection Show on Sunday night at 11 to learn if their 2025 season will continue in the NCAA Tournament.
2024-25 PSAC Men's Basketball Eastern Division All-Conference and Major Awards
Athlete of the Year: Drew Stover, Millersville
Defensive Player of the Year: Cam Young, East Stroudsburg
Freshman of the Year: Evan Morton, East Stroudsburg
Coach of the Year: Damien Blair, West Chester
EASTERN DIVISION FIRST TEAM
|
Player
|
Institution
|
Cl.
|
|
Saraj Ali^
|
Millersville
|
Jr.
|
|
Elijah Allen*
|
West Chester
|
Sr.
|
|
Davante Dennis
|
West Chester
|
Jr.
|
|
Markus Frank
|
Shippensburg
|
R-So.
|
|
Lakeem McAliley^**
|
East Stroudsburg
|
R-Sr.
|
|
Chase Paar
|
Shepherd
|
Sr.
|
|
Drew Stover^
|
Millersville
|
Sr.
|
|
Cam Young
|
East Stroudsburg
|
Sr.
|
*Eight players on First Team due to a tie
EASTERN DIVISION SECOND TEAM
|
Player
|
Institution
|
Cl.
|
|
Marcus Banks
|
Shepherd
|
So.
|
|
Matt Bengel
|
Bloomsburg
|
Sr.
|
|
Jalen Bryant^
|
Kutztown
|
Sr.
|
|
Isaiah Stewart
|
Lock Haven
|
Sr.
|
|
Josh Walker
|
West Chester
|
Sr.
|
|
Eli Washington
|
Lock Haven
|
Gr.
|
*Indicates previous First Team All-PSAC selection
^Indicates previous Second Team All-PSAC selection
--
2024-25 PSAC Men's Basketball Western Division All-Conference and Major Awards
Athlete of the Year: Donald Whitehead Jr., California
Defensive Player of the Year: Cenker Evran, Edinboro
Freshman of the Year: Kymani Merraro, IUP
Coach of the Year: Justin Jennings, Edinboro
WESTERN DIVISION FIRST TEAM
|
Player
|
Institution
|
Cl.
|
|
Cenker Evran
|
Edinboro
|
Jr.
|
|
Jomo Goings^
|
Slippery Rock
|
R-Jr.
|
|
Tasman Goodrick
|
Gannon
|
So.
|
|
Cam Kearney^
|
Clarion
|
Jr.
|
|
Cam Polak
|
California
|
R-Jr.
|
|
Ernest Shelton
|
Gannon
|
So.
|
|
Donald Whitehead Jr.
|
California
|
Jr.
|
WESTERN DIVISION SECOND TEAM
|
Player
|
Institution
|
Cl.
|
|
Kedrick Curtis
|
Seton Hill
|
So.
|
|
Steve Kelly
|
Edinboro
|
Gr.
|
|
Ryan Meis^
|
Seton Hill
|
Gr.
|
|
Kymani Merraro
|
IUP
|
Fr.
|
|
Christian Moore
|
IUP
|
Jr.
|
|
Pace Prosser
|
Gannon
|
Fr.
|
|
Ryan Smith
|
Pitt-Johnstown
|
Sr.
|
*Indicates previous First Team All-PSAC selection
^Indicates previous Second Team All-PSAC selection
