Student-athlete Andruw Harman was named the 2022 AMCC Defensive Player of the Year in men's basketball.
NORTH BOSTON, N.Y. — The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) released its postseason men’s basketball awards on Tuesday, March 1. The team included four Penn State Altoona players on the all-conference list and a pair of special individual awards.
Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal was voted the AMCC Coach of the Year by his peers, and guard/forward Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, Virginia/Great Bridge) was chosen as the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Harman was also a first team All-AMCC selection, while center PJ Charles (Altoona, Pennsylvania/Altoona) and guards Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, Florida/Rockledge) and Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, Maryland/Frederick Douglass) were each voted to the third team of the all-conference squad.
David McGreal, head coach of Penn State Altoona's men's basketball team.
McGreal, in his fifth season at the helm of the Penn State Altoona men’s basketball program, led the Lions to their best season in the team’s NCAA Division III era. In 2021-22, Penn State Altoona set program records for overall wins (18) and AMCC wins (13) while also achieving its best regular-season finish in the conference standings, placing second in the conference to earn the second seed in the AMCC Tournament and a first-round bye. The Lions also earned an AMCC co-regular season championship for the first time in program history by tying for the best conference record in the league this year. McGreal’s team also gained a berth into the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s Division III Championship Tournament as the fourth seed in a 10-team bracket, marking the fifth time in program history that the team has earned an ECAC postseason bid.
This is McGreal’s first Coach of the Year award at Penn State Altoona.
Student-athletes Andruw Harman, PJ Charles, Robbie Hicks, and Saivon Word.
Harman enjoyed a productive season at both ends of the floor for Penn State Altoona this season while playing in all 25 games for the Lions, including making 24 starts. In the AMCC, Harman is tied for first in blocks (34) and blocks per game (1.4) while also ranking third in defensive rebounds (130) and total rebounds (175), sixth in rebounds per game (6.0), seventh in offensive rebounds (45), ninth in free throws made (71), 10th in field goal percentage (52.0), 12th in field goals made (127), points (335), and points per game (13.4), 14th in steals (29), 16th in assists (54), 17th in assists per game (2.2), 18th in free throw percentage (66.4), 19th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4) and steals per game (1.2), and 20th in points per 40 minutes (18.8). Harman was also twice named an AMCC Player of the Week this season, receiving the award on Dec. 6 and Feb. 7.
This is the first time in Harman’s collegiate basketball career that he has been named the AMCC Defensive Player of the Year, and it is also his first appearance on the first team of an All-AMCC squad. He was a 2019-20 second-team all-conference pick and also took Newcomer of the Year honors that season.
Charles emerged as a strong presence in the paint during his first season with Penn State Altoona when he played in 22 games and made 16 starts. In the AMCC this year, he ranks fourth in field goal percentage (55.9) and offensive rebounds (54), sixth in free throws made (91), seventh in rebounds per game (6.7), eighth in points per 40 minutes (22.4), 10th in free throw percentage (78.4), 11th in total rebounds (148), 14th in defensive rebounds (94), 23rd in points (252) and points per game (11.5), and 30th in field goals made (80). He also received Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III South Region Rookie of the Month honors for January.
Hicks makes his first career appearance on an All-AMCC team after playing in all 25 games for Penn State Altoona in 2021-22, including starting 24 of them. In the conference this season, he ranks eighth in three-pointers made (40) and steals (34), 10th in steals per game (1.4), 15th in points (310), 17th in points per game (12.4) and field goals made (112), 18th in three-point percentage (36.4), 21st in points per 40 minutes (18.7), 22nd in free throws made (46), 23rd in defensive rebounds (74), 28th in field goal percentage (42.9), 29th in total rebounds (93), 30th in rebounds per game (3.7) and assists (39), and 32nd in assists per game (1.6).
Word had a solid first season with the Lions after transferring to Penn State Altoona, playing in 21 games and making seven starts. Among all AMCC players this year, he ranks third in assists per game (4.0), fifth in assists (83), seventh in steals per game (1.5), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5), 11th in steals (31) and free throws made (61), 13th in free throw percentage (73.5), 14th in field goal percentage (49.7) and blocks per game (0.5), 19th in points per 40 minutes (19.1) and blocks (11), 20th in points per game (11.8), 24th in points (247), 27th in field goals made (89), 32nd in rebounds per game (3.7), and 33rd in defensive rebounds (65).
Penn State Altoona men’s basketball is 18-7 overall this season, including a 13-3 record within the AMCC. After a loss to La Roche University in last Friday’s conference tournament semifinal game, the Lions earned a berth to compete in the ECAC Division III Championship Tournament as the fourth seed in a 10-team bracket. Penn State Altoona receives a first-round bye, then will take on fifth seed United States Merchant Marine Academy at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 4 in a game hosted at Rutgers-Newark.
