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mehmetaj ecc all tourney 3.5.17

Men's Basketball Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Mehmetaj Named To ECC All-Tournament Team

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Daemen College men's basketball player Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) has been named to the All-Tournament Team for the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament which wrapped up today at Hubbell Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.

Mehmetaj, a 6-foot-7 red-shirt senior forward, averaged 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 56.5 percent from the field (13-for-23) and 76.9 percent from the free throw line (10-for-13) over Daemen's two contests in the tournament.  Mehmetaj's efforts helped Daemen advance to Saturday's semifinal round where the team's season came to an end against top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College.

In a 73-71 defeat of fifth-seeded University of the District of Columbia in the opening round of the tournament on Mar. 1, Mehmetaj led the Wildcats with 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.  He shot 6-for-11 from the field, including 2-for-5 from three-point range, and 9-for-11 at the charity stripe.  It marked Mehmetaj's seventh game of the season with at least 20 points, helping Daemen to a 6-1 record in those contests.  The win was Daemen's 14th this season at Lumsden Gymnasium, tying the program record for home victories in a season set by the 1999-2000 squad.

Mehmetaj shot 7-for-12 from the field and totaled 16 points to go with a team-high four rebounds in Saturday's loss to STAC.  Daemen ended the 2016-17 campaign with a 19-9 overall record, giving the team its sixth-straight season with at least 18 wins.

Mehmetaj, who also earned second-team All-ECC honors for the second-straight season, ended the year as Daemen's leader in total points (391), scoring average (15.6), field goals made (139), free throws made (74) and attempted (91), free throw percentage (81.3), total rebounds (129), rebounding average (5.2) and blocked shots (27).  A member of the Daemen program for the past three seasons, including a medical red-shirt season, Mehmetaj finished his Damen career with 57 games played while making 53 starts, and totals of 856 points (15.0 ppg), 343 rebounds (6.0 rpg) and 57 blocked shots (1.0 bpg).  

Mehmetaj was joined on the all-tournament team by Bridgeport's Sharif Cobb, Curtis Jenkins of Molloy College and three STAC players - Aaron Cust, Shaquille McFarland and Justin Reyes.  STAC completed its quest for a second-straight ECC Tournament crown, outlasting second-seeded Molloy in today's championship game 97-86 in overtime, despite 51 points from the tournament's Most Outstanding Player - Molloy's Charlie Marquardt. 

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's basketball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMBB on Twitter.
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Players Mentioned

Arif Mehmetaj

#21 Arif Mehmetaj

F
6' 7"
Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

Arif Mehmetaj

#21 Arif Mehmetaj

6' 7"
Redshirt Senior
F