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RICHMOND, Va. - George Mason senior forward Ryan Pearson was
recognized with the Colonial Athletic Association's top individual honor on
Thursday evening, as he was selected the
CAA Men's Basketball Player of the Year, announced at the pre-championship
banquet on the eve of the 2012 Virginia 529 CAA Championship. The vote was
conducted by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media.
Pearson is just the fourth Mason player to win the award in
the 30-year history of the conference, joining Carlos Yates (1983), Kenny
Sanders (1988), and three-time winner George Evans, who captured the honor in
1999, 2000 and 2001. The award dates back to the CAA's genesis as the ECAC
South. Additionally, it is the first conference player of the year award under
the tenure of first-year head coach Paul Hewitt in his 15 seasons as a head
mentor.
Helping guide the Patriots to a 23-win season and a
third-place conference finish, Pearson led the team and ranked third in the CAA
scoring 17.8 points per game. The Far Rockaway, N.Y., native also ranks fifth
in the conference in rebounding, leading the Patriots with 8.5 rebounds per
contest. He has posted 12 double-doubles on the year, ranking 30th
in NCAA Division I. Pearson also ranks seventh in the conference in field goal
percentage, connecting on 50.5 percent of his attempts from the field.
Earlier this season, Pearson became just the fourth player
in program history and the only active CAA player to amass more than 1,500
points, 750 rebounds, 100 assists and 100 steals in his four-year career.
Starting every game this season, he has scored in double-digits in all but four
contests including 11 games with 20 or more points. His 552 points this year
rank as the 12th-best single season performance in school history,
and he sits fifth in career scoring at 1,616 points and ninth in career
rebounds (799).
Pearson was joined on the All-CAA first team by Old
Dominion's Kent Bazemore, Bradford Burgess of VCU, Drexel's Frantz Massenat and
UNCW's Keith Rendleman. Pearson received 28 of the 48 possible votes for Player
of the Year, twice that of the nearest competitor. Drexel picked up two individual awards, in Coach of the Year Bruiser Flint and Rookie of the Year Damion Lee. Bazemore won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the second straight year.
With a first-round bye, Pearson and the Patriots
will begin their quest for a fifth CAA title on Saturday night, taking on the
winner of the No. 6 Georgia State/No. 11 Hofstra game at 8:30 p.m. at Richmond
Coliseum. The game will be televised live on The Comcast Network and broadcast
in the Washington, D.C. area on CSN+.
