2014-15 Male Athlete of the Year Gerald Beverly accepts the award from Director of Athletics Bridget Niland

Men's Basketball 5/1/2015 9:15:00 PM

Beverly Named 2014-15 Male Athlete Of The Year

Senior Men's Basketball Player Becomes First Two-Time Recipient Of Award

AMHERST, N.Y. - Senior Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) of the Daemen College men's basketball team has been named the College's Male Athlete of the Year. The announcement was made tonight at the 2014-15 Athletics Awards Evening held in the Social Room of the Charles J. Wick Campus Center. The award was announced by a brief video production and presented by Daemen President Dr. Gary A. Olson and Director of Athletics Bridget Niland. Beverly, who also collected the honor last spring, becomes the first two-time recipient in the brief history of the award.

Beverly concluded his outstanding four-year career this past winter by leading the Wildcats to a 21-10 overall record and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship. The 6-foot-7 forward led the team in scoring (20.0 ppg), rebounding (12.0 rpg), field goal percentage (.607) and blocks (110) for the second-straight year.

He ended the season as the East Coast Conference (ECC) leader in rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks and ranked second in the league in scoring. Although he was ineligible for inclusion in the NCAA Division II national statistical rankings due to Daemen's ongoing transition to NCAA membership, Beverly was one of only two players nationwide to average at least 20 points and 12 rebounds per game—the other being University of the Sciences senior forward Garrett Kerr who was named the Ron Lenz Division II National Player of the Year. Beverly's blocked-shot totals also led the nation, unofficially.

Beverly amassed 20 double-doubles this season (47 for his career) and also recorded his first career triple-double with 17 points, 17 rebounds and 12 blocks vs. St. Thomas University on Dec. 17. The 12 blocks was a career-high and established a new ECC record for blocks in a game. Beverly also scored in double figures in all 31 games this season, extending his personal streak to 61-straight double-figure scoring games. He became the first Daemen player to score over 600 points and average over 20 points per game since Rob Robinson and Russell John each did so in the 1990-91 season.

His efforts did not go unnoticed by the region's head coaches. A three-time ECC Player of the Week selection during the year, he collected first-team All-ECC and ECC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second-straight season after leading the Wildcats to a third-place showing in the ultra-competitive ECC. He was also a first-team selection on the Daktronics/Division II Conference Commissioners Association all-region team and collected second-team all-district honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)—making him the first Daemen athlete in any sport to collect all-region honors at the NCAA Division II level. Basketball Times, a monthly publication dubbed "the real voice of college basketball", also honored Beverly as a third-team selection on its Division II All-America team.

The USCAA also acknowledged his dominance during its awards banquet prior to the national tournament. He was named to the USCAA All-America team for the third-straight year and was also the first-ever recipient of the USCAA Division I Player of the Year award.

Beverly capped his career in fine fashion this past March by leading the Wildcats to the 2015 USCAA national title. After coming close the previous two seasons, the Wildcats earned the championship following wins over Indiana University-South Bend (69-63), Concordia-Alabama (68-63) and Rochester College (77-53). Beverly shot 72-percent (21-for-29) from the field and averaged 18.7 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks over the three games and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. He totaled 21 points and 19 rebounds in the opening-round win over IU-South Bend and scored a team-high 19 points in the championship game against Rochester.

Additional highlights this past season included being named the MVP of the season-opening Knee Center of WNY / ECC-CACC Challenge and back-to-back monster efforts during early-January wins over Dowling College (27 points, season-high 21 rebounds, seven blocks) and eventual ECC champion University of Bridgeport (season-high 36 points, 15 rebounds). His numbers against Dowling and Bridgeport earned Beverly the selection of Division II National Player of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Daemen posted an 89-34 record (.724) over Beverly's four-year career. Those numbers also included an incredible 47-3 record at Lumsden Gymnasium—and a Division II-best 44-game home winning streak. The 89 wins are the most in program history over a four-year stretch. He closed out his stay on Main Street ranked third in career games played (120), fifth in career points (1,799), second in career rebounds (1,004) and first in career blocked shots (330) among Daemen's all-time leaders.

Beverly is the fourth consecutive men's basketball player to be named as Daemen's Male Athlete of the Year. His former teammates Dom Mazzocchi (Geneva, N.Y./Finger Lakes CC) and Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) are the two previous winners of the award which was instituted in 2012.

Nominations for the award are made by Office of Athletic Communications and nominees are then voted on by the department's head coaches and other full-time staffers. Additional nominees this year included senior soccer player Matt Daddario (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst), junior soccer/track and field athlete Robert Ralyea (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport), and sophomore soccer/track and field athlete Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport).

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Players Mentioned

#10 Casey Sheehan: G; 5' 10"; Senior

#55 Gerald Beverly: F; 6' 7"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#10 Casey Sheehan
: 5' 10"; Senior
: G

#55 Gerald Beverly
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

Players Mentioned

#10 Casey Sheehan

#55 Gerald Beverly

Players Mentioned

#10 Casey Sheehan

#55 Gerald Beverly