City of Basketball Love

By David Comer
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The local Division III season was another memorable one. 

There were dominant players and memorable teams, with Neumann, DelVal and Bryn Athyn all earning trips to the NCAA tournament. The incredibly successful Landry Kosmalski era came to an end at Swarthmore, while the end arrived for the Bryn Athyn basketball program altogether. 

Without further ado, here are the CoBL-area Division III men’s basketball awards for this season:

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(Ed. Note: in the past, the CoBL Division III coverage area extended all the way up into the Lehigh Valley and out to Harrisburg. This season, we focused more on just the teams contained within the five counties CoBL traditionally covers. Due to some programs closing, we will re-evaluate this for next year.)

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Player of the Year

Trevor Wall  (Sr. | Ursinus)
Wall just put the final touches on a remarkable career at Ursinus, but before this season, he had a decision to make. He could return to Ursinus for his final year of eligibility, or he could find a different school – perhaps at the Division I level – to play his last season of college basketball. 

The 6-foot-3 guard and St. Joseph’s Prep graduate, elected to return to Ursinus, and he did not disappoint. He led the league in scoring for the second straight year, averaging a career-best 21.9 ppg (after averaging 19.4 ppg last season) and reaching double figures in every game and hitting for at least 20 points 18 times in 27 games. Wall was also 10th in the Centennial Conference at 2.5 apg and second in the league with 2.5 spg. 

Wall played in and started exactly 100 games for the Bears and finished his career fourth all-time in program history with 1,752 points. This season, Wall, who is from North Wales and was a 1,000-point scorer and second-team all-Philadelphia Catholic League selection as a senior, continued his stellar play in the Centennial Conference. Fearless taking the ball to the basket and a terrific finisher in the lane, Wall was also named to the All-Centennial Conference first team and won conference player of the week honors five times during the season. Wall also earned NABC first-team All-District 5 and D3hoops.com All-Region 5 honors. 

All-Area First Team
Donte Dupriest (Jr. | Neumann)
Dupriest, a 6-foot-4 junior forward from Philadelphia, played in only 16 games this season, but he made the most of it. After joining the team in late December, Dupriest was nothing short of dominant. He averaged 18.1 ppg and 14.4 rpg (which would have ranked him second nationally if he had played enough games to qualify) and was named the Atlantic East Conference Player of the Year. His 13 double-doubles tied him for 16th nationally despite playing in only 16 of his team’s 28 games. With Dupriest in the lineup, Neumann won the AEC and reached the NCAA tournament, where they lost, 76-60, to eventual national champion Trinity (CT) in a game that was tied in the second half. 

Zander Jimenez (Fr. | Swarthmore)
The 6-foot-3 guard from Hercules, Calif., which is in the San Francisco Bay Area, started only six of 21 games this season, but he established himself as one of the top freshmen in the nation. Jimenez earned Rookie of the Year Honors in the Centennial Conference, joining former Swarthmore standout Vinny DeAngelo, who won the honor in 2020, as the only Garnet players to receive the award. Jimenez also earned second-team All-Centennial Conference honors and was the lone freshman to receive first-team, second-team or honorable mention recognition in the Centennial Conference. Jimenez also was named the D3hoops.com Region 5 Rookie of the Year.

Zubair Lee (Jr. | Eastern)
The 6-foot-7 junior from Voorhees, N.J., who coincidentally played for Eastern High School and now plays for Eastern University, earned second-team All-MAC Commonwealth honors after leading the league in rebounding at 10.2 rpg and finishing third in scoring at 17.4 ppg. He recorded 12 double-doubles, including a game with 33 points and 24 rebounds against Arcadia and another with 32 points and 14 rebounds against Messiah. Lee led the league in free throws attempted (182) and free throws made (130), as he shot 71.4% from the foul line. His 1,207 career points rank him 15th all-time in program history, while his 749 career rebounds place him ninth.

Will Little (Jr. | Bryn Athyn)
Little has been a reliable scorer for Bryn Athyn in his three years there, averaging 14.9 ppg (2022-23), 16.5 ppg (2023-24) and 14.2 ppg. He scored 998 career points at Bryn Athyn but won’t have a chance to reach 1,000 due to the school eliminating its basketball program after this season. Little, a 6-foot-6 guard from Baltimore who started his college career at Millersville, was a first-time All-UEC selection. He scored a team-high 17 points in his team’s NCAA tournament game.

Antonio Redding (Jr. | DelVal)
Redding had a solid sophomore season at DelVal, averaging 9.1 ppg and 3.5 rpg in about 25 minutes per contest. But he really turned it on as a junior, averaging 17.6 ppg along with 2.9 rpg and 2.4 apg and becoming one of the nation’s best three-point shooters. The 6-foot guard from Orlando hit 82-of-162 from beyond the arc, his 50.6% mark leading all of D-III hoops and setting a new program record for three-pointers in a season. He also came within three points of the program’s single-game scoring record, dropping 47 in a win over Stevens and hitting eight treys along the way.

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All-Area Second Team
D.J. Earl (Jr. | Neumann)
The 6-foot guard from Middletown, Del., earned second-team All-AEC honors after averaging 17.4 ppg. Lewis, who started his college career at Chesapeake College, was at his best at the end of the season. He scored 30 points in a win over Marymount in the AEC tournament championship game and followed that up with a game-high 25 points in the NCAA tournament against eventual national champion Trinity (CT). 

Jakir Hampton (Sr. | Bryn Athyn)
Hampton, who was a first-team All-UEC selection and the UEC tournament MVP this season, was a major reason for Bryn Athyn’s success. The 6-foot guard from Smyrna, Del., who spent two years at Westmoreland County Community College and one year at Central Christian College of Kansas, an NAIA school located in McPherson, Kansas, before settling in at Bryn Athyn, was one of the top three-point shooters in the country. Hampton made 63-of-138 from long range (45.7%). Hampton averaged 13.5 ppg this season after scoring 11.5 ppg last year, which was his first at Bryn Athyn. Hampton was at his best when it mattered most, scoring 26, 27 and 16 in the three games Bryn Athyn won in the UEC tournament.

T.J. Lewis (Sr. | Neumann)
The 6-foot-3 guard from Friends Central completed a terrific career at Neumann with an excellent senior season during which he averaged 13.3 ppg and 4.9 rpg and earned second-team All-AEC honors. He also received the AEC Elite 20 Award, given to the player at the conference championship site with the highest GPA, as he had a 3.68 GPA in sport management. Lewis finished his career with 1,392 points - eighth most in program history.

Aquil Stewart (Sr. | Gwynedd Mercy)
The lightning quick 5-foot-9 guard, who played his high school basketball at Girard College, started his college career at Cabrini before making his mark at Gwynedd Mercy. The Philadelphia native was a major reason that Gwynedd Mercy started the season 13-0 and finished 21-5. He averaged 14.2 ppg and earned second-team All-AEC honors while shooting a league-best 38.5% from deep and 82.5% from the foul line.

Shawn Summers Jr. (Sr. | Gwynedd Mercy)
The 6-foot-4 forward from Montclair, N.J., made his only season with Gwynedd Mercy a good one. He scored in double figures in all but two of 26 games played - reaching 20 points 11 times - and averaged a team-best 17.2 ppg. Summers, who also played at FDU-Florham and William Paterson, earned first-team All-AEC honors and was the seventh Gwynedd Mercy player to earn D3hoops.com All-Region honors as he was selected to the Region 5 second team.

Mohamed Toure (Jr. | Ursinus)
The wiry 6-foot-6 guard from Washington D.C. can score from anywhere on the court and has improved each season - progressing from 6.8 ppg as a freshman to 8.6 ppg as a sophomore to 13.7 ppg this year as a junior. Toure, who has 771 career points and likely will reach 1,000 next season, reached double figures in 22 of 27 games and hit for a season-high 29 against Widener. He also averaged 5.4 rpg.

Honorable Mention
Keith Bullock Jr. (Sr.| Bryn Athyn), Isaiah Coleman (Sr. | Cairn), Matt Daulerio (Gr. | Widener), Jaden Fogg (Jr. | Penn State-Brandywine), Mike Herrin (Jr. | DelVal), Jalen Jackson (Sr. | Bryn Athyn), Amari Little (Jr. | Penn State-Brandywine), Jamison Lynam (Fr. | Arcadia), Nick Nocito (Jr. | Ursinus), Joshua Okocha (Jr. | Arcadia), Zoelin Pair (Sr. | DelVal), Mandon Seapoe (Soph. | Immaculata), Jaylon Simpson (Gr. | Cairn), Ashton West (Sr. | Cairn)

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Freshman of the Year

Zander Jimenez (Fr. | Swarthmore)
Jimenez averaged 15.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.9 apg and 1.8 spg this season and ranked among the top 10 in the Centennial Conference in steals (4th), points (7th) and rebounds (10th). Jimenez also ranked second in the conference in free throw percentage (83.0%). His 15.1 ppg led Swarthmore. He finished with double figures in all but two games and had four 20-plus performances, including a career-high 31 points at Johns Hopkins. “Zander totally surprised us when he got here with his overall ability and his ability to pick things up quickly,” former Swarthmore coach Landry Kosmalski said during the season.

Honorable Mention
Jamison Lynam (Fr. | Arcadia)

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Coach of the Year
Sean Westerlund (Bryn Athyn)
Westerlund has done a masterful job at Bryn Athyn since he was hired in April of 2020. What would have been his first season as coach, the 2020-21 campaign, was cancelled due to COVID-19. In the three years thereafter, the Lions went from 7 to 11 to 17 wins, setting the stage for this historic season that ended with a 20-9 record and an appearance in the first round of the NCAA D-III tournament where they fell to perennial power Hampden-Sydney College.

On March 1, Bryn Athyn College won the program’s first-ever UEC championship. On March 26, Bryn Athyn announced that it would be discontinuing its 11 NCAA D-III programs — including men’s and women’s basketball — as well as its club ice hockey team. 

For the 33-year-old Westerlund, who has won back-to-back UEC Coach of the Year awards, that means he is looking for a new coaching job. Those in need of a basketball coach need not look further than this season to see Westerlund’s coaching acumen and how much his players truly adore him. Bryn Athyn started the season 2-6 before Westerlund led a remarkable turnaround that included a 15-game winning streak and the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

Honorable Mention
John Baron (Gwynedd Mercy)
Muhamadou Kaba (DelVal)
Jim Rullo (Neumann)