St. John's Zuby Ejiofor wins Met Writers top award, Claxton and Holloway share coach of year

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NEW YORK (AP) — St. John's Zuby Ejiofor was chosen as the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award winner by the Met Basketball Writers Association on Thursday.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward averaged 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and shot 53.6% from the field for the Red Storm (30-7). He was honored as the Big East player of the year as well as earning honorable mention AP All-America honors. Ejiofor helped the Red Storm win the Big East regular-season and tournament titles and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Hofstra's Speedy Claxton and Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway were co-honored as the Lou Carnesecca Coaches of the Year.

After finishing third during the Coastal Athletic Association regular season, Claxton led the Pride (24-11) to the CAA tournament title, earning Hofstra the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This season was his fourth time in his five years as head coach that Claxton’s team has won 20 or more games.

This is the third time in five years that Holloway has received an MBWA Coach of the Year acknowledgement. Previously, he was recognized in 2022 while at Saint Peter’s and then again in 2024 at Seton Hall. The Pirates won 14 more games than last season to go 21-12.

Preston Edmead of Hofstra was selected Rookie of the Year.

Ejiofor was joined on the All-Met first team by teammate Bryce Hopkins, Seton Hall's Budd Clark, Hofstra's Cruz Davis, Rutgers' Tariq Francis and Stony Brook's Erik Pratt.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball