Canisius juniors Kassius Robertson and Jermaine Crumpton and freshman Malik Johnson were honored by the MAAC coaches on Monday, as all three players earned All-MAAC honors for the 2016-17 regular season. The awards were announced on the league’s annual postseason coaches conference call.
Robinson, the Golden Griffins’ leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, was named All-MAAC Second Team, while Crumpton, who ranked second on the Blue and Gold’s roster with his 16.2 points per game, earned All-MAAC Third-Team accolades. Johnson was named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team after he finished the regular season ranked fifth in the conference in assists per game with 4.2 assists per game. This marks the first time since 2006-07 where Canisius had three players earn postseason all-league honors.
Robertson closed out the regular season ranked eighth in the MAAC in scoring average with his 16.5 points per game scoring average. He is just the third player in school history to make 90-or more 3-point field goals in a season with 92 connections from long-range, and his 3.0 makes per game from behind the arc lead the league and rank 35th in the nation. The Toronto, Ontario native scored in double-figures 23 times during the regular season, and he hit multiple 3-pointers 27 times. Additionally, he distributed a career-high 2.6 assists per game, and his 79.6 percent effort from the free-throw line is seventh-best in the league. He is the first Griff to earn All-MAAC Second-Team honors since former Griff Harold Washington earned second-team honors in 2012-13.
Crumpton earned all-league third-team honors for the first time in his career after he posted 16.2 points per game, which ranks ninth in the league. He scored double-figures 26 times, highlighted by his career-high 32-point effort in a win at Fairfield Jan. 10. The Niagara Falls native shot 50.4 percent from the floor during the regular season, which ranked second on the team and ninth in the MAAC, and his 4.9 rebounds per game are second-best on the team. He is the 12th Canisius player to earn All-MAAC Third-Team honors since 200-01, and the first since former Griff Zach Lewis was honored to the third team after the 2014-15 campaign.
Johnson set a new school record for starts in a season by a freshman with 31. The Richmond, Virginia native posted 3.9 points, 4.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game in his rookie campaign, and he closed out the regular season ranked second in the MAAC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.5. His 131 total assists are the most for a Canisius freshman since former Griff Frank Turner in 2006-07, and those 131 assists rank 85th nationally and 12th-best among all freshmen at the Division I level. He is the ninth player in school history to earn MAAC All-Rookie team accolades.
Canisius will start its play at the 2017 MAAC Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday, March 2, when the seventh-seeded Griffs meet 10-seed Marist in a first-round game. Tipoff in Times Union Center is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, TIMELESS WECK 1230-AM and 102.9-FM in Buffalo and through GoGriffs.com.
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