Tolbert Selected MEC Player of the Year, Diop Earns MEC Defensive Player of the Year, Three Make All-MEC

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Junior guard Kollin Tolbert of the Concord University men's basketball team has been named the Mountain East Conference Player of the Year while junior forward Rene Diop has been voted as the MEC Defensive Player of the Year, the conference office announced Tuesday afternoon.

In addition to their individual awards, Tolbert was named to the All-MEC First Team, and senior guard Corey Boston joined Diop on the All-MEC Second Team.

Tolbert becomes CU's first conference player of the year since 2003-04 when Lewis Muse was the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Player of the Year.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native led the conference in scoring this winter at 21.3 points per game which also ranks 20^th in Division II. Tolbert finished the regular season fifth in the conference in field-goal percentage (51.7), third in free-throw percentage (88.8), sixth in rebounding (6.6) and seventh in assists (3.4). He was the top rebounding guard in the MEC with the next closest at 5.8 rebounds per game. Some of the highlights for Tolbert this season included a 58-point game at Charleston (Nov. 23) which was the highest scoring game in Division II. He added 41 points at home versus the Golden Eagles (Jan. 22), scored the game-winning basket in overtime at West Virginia Wesleyan as part of a 36-point night (Feb. 12) and hit for 32 points against rival Bluefield State (Feb. 3). Tolbert saved his best for the home stretch of the regular season as he averaged 23.8 points per game and shot 59.4 percent from the floor during the month of February.

Diop was chosen as the first recipient of the newly-formed MEC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the MEC in blocks (2.4). The Dakar, Senegal native currently ranks 10^th in Division II in blocks per game. Diop recorded at least one block in 25 of 26 games played this season, and had multiple blocks 18 times, including a stretch of 10 consecutive games from January 15-February 12. Diop went for a season-high six blocks versus West Virginia State (Nov. 26) as helped CU finish the regular season seventh in Division II in blocks per game (5.4). His 62 blocks this season are the seventh most in program history for a single-season and the most since the late 1990s. Diop added 9.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game to earn All-MEC Second Team as he moved up from All-MEC Honorable Mention a season ago.

Boston, a native of Lafayette, Alabama, lands on the All-MEC Second Team for the first time in his career after averaging 16.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 23 regular-season games. Boston ranks seventh in the MEC in scoring, sixth in assists and 10^th in steals (1.4). Additionally, Boston's shooting percentage of 46.3 is also top 10 in the league. Like Tolbert, Boston finished the season with a flurry as he scored 20 or more points in four of the final five games of the regular season, including dropping in a career-best 35 points at West Virginia State (Feb. 26). Overall, Boston tallied double figures in 20 games this year. He netted 22 points in an upset win of nationally-ranked West Liberty (Jan. 15) and threw in 26 points at Wheeling (Feb. 19).
Along with Tolbert and Diop, the other individual award winners announced the by the MEC Tuesday were Charleston's Ja'Corey Lipkins (Freshman of the Year) and West Liberty's Ben Howlett (Coach of the Year).

CU begins the MEC Tournament with a quarterfinal round matchup versus West Virginia State 8:30 p.m. Friday inside of WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.