TARRYTOWN, NY—The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association honored NJIT senior forward Isaiah Wilkerson when they voted him onto the 2011-12 All-Met Men's Division I third team with the annual awards banquet held Thursday, April 26 at the Westchester Marriott.
 
Wilkerson, who earlier received honorable mention on the Associated Press All-America team, as well as Player of the Year honors in the Great West Conference, where he was a repeat first-team all-conference honoree, led NJIT this year in both scoring (16.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.6 rebounds per game), as the Highlanders advanced to the 2012 Great West championship game.
 
The Staten Island, NY, native also led the team in steals (56) and was second in assists (66) and third in 3-point baskets (44). He also made nearly 82 percent of his free throw attempts (115-141).
 
He played an integral role in raising NJIT's men's basketball program throughout his career. In 2008-09, his freshman year, the Highlanders won just one game, but they won 15 games in both his junior and senior years, including the run to the Great West title game, where he had game-high totals of 19 points and 11 rebounds in his final college appearance.
 
Wilkerson is the career leader in scoring (1,577 points) and rebounding (616) in NJIT's Division I era and his totals ranked seventh in scoring for the program overall (pre-NCAA and all three NCAA Divisions) and 10th in rebounding overall. First-team all-conference his last two seasons, he reached double-figure scoring his last 47 consecutive games against Division I opponents.
 
This year's awards program was the 79th annual such presentation by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association is co-sponsored by the National Invitation Tournament. The largest award given at the annual dinner is the NIT/Haggerty Award, named in memory of Lt. Frank J. Haggerty, a former two-sport college star who was the first St. John's student killed in World War II. This year's Haggerty Award winner was Iona guard Scott Machado, the national Division I assists leader.
 
The MBWA picks three All-Met teams in men's Division I and NJIT's Wilkerson was joined on the third team by Brian Barbour of Columbia, Lamont Jones of Iona, Eli Carter of Rutgers, and Ella Ellis of Army.
 
In addition to the Haggerty Award winner, Machado, the MBWA chose Steve Masiello of Manhattan and Danny Hurley of Wagner as co-Coaches of the Year, and Moe Harkless of St. John's as Rookie of the Year.
 
The Met Writers awards program, the oldest of its kind in the country, began in the 1930's by honoring major college players and programs in and around New York City. Known in basketball circles as the Haggerty Awards, the honors have expanded to include men's and women's basketball programs from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut at all levels of the NCAA.