Drexel's Bruiser Flint picked up his record-tying fourth CAA Coach of the Year Award and Damion Lee was named the league's Rookie of the Year at the CAA Championship Banquet held on Thursday night at the Richmond Marriott in Richmond, Va. In addition, Frantz Massenat was a First Team All-CAA pick, while Samme Givens was a Second Team All-CAA selection.
Flint led the Dragons to a school-record 25 regular season victories and a 16-2 mark in CAA play. The Dragons enter the CAA Tournament with a 17-game winning streak and a 25-5 overall record. Flint's fourth CAA Coach of the Year Award tied him with Dick Tarrant, the former coach at the University of Richmond, for the most in league history.
Lee, a 6-foot-6 guard, picked up the CAA Rookie of the Year and was named to the All-Rookie team after an outstanding first season in University City. He started all but one game and finished the regular season second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game. Lee, a Baltimore native, shot 38 percent from behind the arc, the sixth best percentage in the league, and was ninth in the CAA in field-goal percentage at .457. He was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on four occasions.
Massenat had one of the best seasons for a Drexel point guard in recent memory. The sophomore was runner-up to George Mason's Ryan Pearson for the CAA Player of the Year. Massenat leads the CAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at better than 2-to-1 and also leads the league in three-point percentage at .466. He is third in the CAA with 4.5 assists per game and 11th in scoring at 13.5 points per game. The Ewing, N.J., product who attended Trenton Catholic tied a school record by making 34 straight free throws at one point and shoots just under 81 percent from the line.
Givens earned second team honors for the second straight season. He averaged 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest in his senior year. Givens became the third Dragon in history to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career. Only Malik Rose and Bob Stephens are on that list with Givens. He begins play at the CAA Tournament 20th on Drexel's all-time scoring list with 1,158 points and third in rebounding with 1,010.
Drexel also had two student-athletes named Honorable Mention All-Academic selections. Jake Lerner and Stevan Manojlovic were each honored for their work in the classroom. Lerner, a Philadelphia native, is majoring in business administration. Manojlovic, an international student from Toronto, is an environmental studies major.
Drexel begins its quest for its first CAA title on Saturday afternoon at noon. The Dragons will face the winner of the UNC Wilmington-James Madison game which takes place on Friday afternoon.
--Drexel University Athletics