BY ROBERT ELKIN | Two N.Y.U. basketball players, as well as a player and the head coach from Baruch, were honored as local Division III standouts at the 82nd annual Haggerty Awards dinner. The awards were hosted last month by the National Invitational Tournament and the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown, N.Y.
Granville Gittens, a senior forward at Baruch College, a member of the City University of New York Athletic Conference, and senior Evan Kupferberg, a forward from New York University, a member of the United Athletic Association, earned first-team honors for their excellence on the court.
Kupferberg led the Violets with 481 points and was second in average with almost 18 points a game.
In addition, Baruch Coach John Alesi was named Coach of the Year in Division III.
Kupferberg’s N.Y.U. teammate junior Hakeem Harris, who will return for his senior year, earned second team honors.
“It’s a tremendous honor to get the Coach of the Year award,” said Alesi, whose father, Jack Alesi, is a longtime coach at Brooklyn’s Xaverian High School.
“I had a great season and I’m very proud to get the award,” he said. “We did an unbelievable job.”
The coach’s award is really a team award and is not about the individual.
“I was very fortunate to have a great team,” said Alesi. “All the players helped out.”
In fact, Alesi has all the ingredients to be a successful college coach at any level. He knows the game well, works very hard and has a great basketball background.
Jack Alesi coached his son John when the latter was a student at Xaverian and is very proud of what the younger Alesi has accomplished.
Baruch posted a 21-7 record this past season, while N.Y.U. went 19-9.
“It’s awesome to be here around these guys,” Harris said at the awards dinner. “It’s really humbling. I want to thank my coaches for giving me the opportunity to put me in this position. I had so many big games. And I can’t think of one that stands out.”
“Harris and Evan led us in so many big games and led us to many victories,” said John Pelin, N.Y.U. assistant coach. “And Evan also had a great year as a junior.
On the distaff side, N.Y.U.’s Megan Dawe made All-Met first team and Baruch’s Sheridan Taylor made the second team.
