Westfield, Mass. — Westfield State’s Kenneth Rogers Jr. and Worcester State’s Brandon Goris are the 2024-25 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year while the Owls’ Eric Johnson is Defensive Player of the Year and headline the All-Conference team which is voted on by the seven coaches around the conference.

 

Rogers Jr., a first year from Springfield, Mass., burst on to the scene for the MASCAC Regular Season Champion Owls to earn not only MASCAC Player of the Year honors but Rookie of the Year. In his first season with the team, he averaged a league-leading 18.7 points, nine rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was named the MASCAC Rookie of the Week 13 times this season while he amassed over 500 points and 250 rebounds this season alone. 15 times, he scored 20 points or more with one of his best outputs coming in the win over Fitchburg State where he tallied 26 points, 19 rebounds, six assists and two steals. 

 

Joining Rogers as a Player of the Year honoree is the Goris from Worcester State. The senior from Bronx, N.Y., averaged 17.6 points while totaling 131 assists, 74 steals and 54.3 field goal percentage on the year which were all in the top five of the MASCAC. In the overtime victory over Salem State, Goris tied the Lancers single-game scoring record with 44 points while also collecting nine rebounds, eight assists, seven steals and a lights out 75 percent from the field. 

 

Johnson nabbed the MASCAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades after the senior from Houston, Texas anchored the Owls high-pressure defense as perhaps the only true post player on the roster. He is averaging 6.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor. Johnson was second in the league with 35 blocks and seventh with 152 total rebounds. He was at his best in the MASCAC tournament with 18 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the title game.

 

After guiding Salem State to a 9-4 record and second seed into the MASCAC Tournament, Chris Harvey of Salem State was voted the 2024-25 BSN Sports Coach of the Year by his peers. 

 

Joining Johnson, Rogers and Goris on the 2024-25 All-Conference First Team is Quentin Gittens of MCLA and Omri Merryman of Salem State.

 

On the Second Team are Josh Campbell and Dante Kikuba of Bridgewater State, Joshua Saint Jean of Framingham State, Nicholas Martinez and Tyrese Rho of Salem State.