NEW YORK, NY - Tariq Francis, a freshman on the NJIT men's basketball team, was named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Division I Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year, the organization announced on Wednesday.
Francis will be presented the award during the MBWA's 91st Annual Haggerty Awards Dinner on Thursday night. The event will take place at 7pm at Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, NY and
will also be live streamed.
The Pittsburgh, PA, native led all America East freshmen and finished ninth overall in scoring, averaging 14.8 ppg. In conference games, Francis was fifth overall in scoring with an average of 18.7 ppg. Francis scored 20+ points on eight different occasions, including a season-high 31 in the Highlanders' upset victory over Vermont on February 8, the Catamounts only America East loss of the season.
Francis was named the MBWA's Division I Men's Basketball Player of the Week on February 12 after leading the Highlanders to pair pair of victories over the first and second place teams in the America East, Vermont and UMass Lowell.
Earlier this postseason, Francis was honored as the America East's Rookie of the Year and named to the conference's All-Rookie Team. He was also named the America East Rookie of the Week eight times this season.
Francis is the first NJIT student-athlete to receive an individual special award from the MBWA. Former NJIT Head Coach Jim Engles was named the MBWA's Division I Coach of the Year in 2015.
Being named All-Met is unique in that there are 21 colleges and universities, and more than 300 men's players, under the MBWA Division I umbrella.
A full list of MBWA Rookie of the Year Award winners dating back to the inception of the award in 1981 can be found here.
Francis will be joined by family members and coaches at the Haggerty Awards Dinner on Thursday.
