Laing, Harvey Earn All-Met Honors

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Seton Hall men’s basketball senior Brian Laing (Bronx, N.Y.) was named to the Division I All-Met First Team by the National Invitation Tournament and the Met Basketball Writers Association, it was announced on Thursday.  Sophomore Eugene Harvey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was named to the All-Met Third Team. 

Laing will be honored at the All-Met banquet at the Giants Stadium Club in East Rutherford on Thursday night, April 17.

A team captain, Laing earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors this past season and helped lead the Pirates to a 17-14 overall record and a berth in the BIG EAST Championship this season.  The 6-foot-5 forward averaged a conference second-best 18.6 points per game and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll four times this season.  On Nov. 26, Laing was named BIG EAST Player of the Week.  An NABC All-District selection, he ranked sixth in the conference in free-throw percentage (.803) and became the 34^th player in Seton Hall history to record 1,000 career points.  He ends his career ranking 22^nd all-time at Seton Hall with 1,313 points.

A 2007-08 Bob Cousy Award candidate, Harvey averaged a team second-best 13.3 points per game while playing in every Seton Hall game for the second straight year.  The 6-foot point guard led the Pirates in assists per game for the second consecutive year, upping his average to a BIG EAST fourth-best 4.88 per game last season.  Harvey finished third in the conference with 1.94 steals per game.  He matched his career-high of 27 points three times last season, most recently in a crucial overtime victory over James Madison on Dec. 22, 2007.

Joining Laing on the All-Met First Team are Jason Thompson of Rider, Antoine Agudio of Hofstra, Anthony Mason, Jr. of St. John’s, Bryant Dunston of Fordham and John Baumann of Columbia.  Members of the All-Met Second Team include Durell Vinson and Mark Porter of Wagner, Ryan Thompson of Rider, Jarell Brown of Army, Manny Ubilla of Fairleigh Dickinson and Jaytornah Wisseh of LIU.  Joining Harvey on the All-Met Third Team are Todd Sowell of St. Peter’s, Charles Jenkins of Hofstra, Marcus Stout of Fordham, Antoine Pearson of Manhattan and Jonathan Han of Fairfield. 

Jason Thompson of Rider was named winner of the 75th Haggerty Award as the 2007-08 All-Met Division I Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year, while Charles Jenkins of Hofstra was named Rookie of the Year.

Tommy Dempsey of Rider won the Peter A. Carlesimo Coach of the Year award.

Voting for the All-Met teams was done by members of the media in the tri-state area.