Feb. 27, 2012

EASTON, Pa. - Senior forward Ryan Willen (Cape Girardeau, Mo./Notre Dame) and junior point guard Tony Johnson (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) have been selected All-Patriot League First- and Second-Team, respectively, while freshmen Seth Hinrichs (Clara City, Minn./Maccray) and Dan Trist (Sydney, Australia/North Sydney Boys') played their way onto the Patriot League All-Rookie Team announced Monday.

Willen is the team's leading scorer at 14.6 ppg. He has led the team in scoring in 14 games this season and has reached double figures in 24 games. The Missouri native is also the team's top rebounder with 5.3 per game. Willen is coming off a career-high 13-rebound effort at American in the Patriot League regular-season finale on Feb. 25. It was his third double-double of the season and seventh of his career.

Following his 16-point afternoon at American, Willen moved into eighth place for career scoring at Lafayette with 1,430 points. This season he became just the 13th player in Lafayette history to score 1,000 points and pull down 500 rebounds, currently with 563.

Patriot League accolades are nothing new for Willen who was a Second-Team selection as a sophomore in 2009-10 and All-Rookie Team honoree 2008-09. Willen has also been named the 2011-12 Patriot League Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year along with his inclusion on the Academic All-Patriot League Team for the second straight season.

Johnson has shown himself to be a top point guard in the Patriot League. The junior has averaged 8.0 points and 4.3 assists per game. Johnson is second on the team with 51 assists despite having played in just 12 games. He missed the first 16 games of the season with a back injury, but returned for Patriot League play on Jan. 11.

With Johnson in the lineup, the Leopards have a positive assist/turnover ratio (1.3 with 156 assists to 121 turnovers) compared to the 16 games (0.9 with 199 assists to 224 turnovers) without him. The Leopards turnover margin moved from -2.0 to +2.8 since his return. Currently, the Economics major is sidelined with a foot injury.

Hinrichs finished second in the Patriot League Rookie of the Year voting to Holy Cross point guard Justin Burrell. The Mathematics-Economics major has been named Patriot League Rookie of the Week a school-record seven times including this week. He leads all Patriot League freshmen in scoring at 8.6 points per game to go along with 2.8 rebounds per outing. The Minnesota native leads the Patriot League in three-point shooting, knocking down 47 percent from long range as one of four Lafayette players in the top 15 in three-point field goal percentage.

Hinrichs is coming off a nine-point effort at American during which he also ripped down a career-high eight rebounds. That performance followed a win over Colgate in which he scored a career-high 22 points.

With Trist joining the All-Rookie Team, it marks the first time in Patriot League history that two Lafayette players have been named in the same season. Lafayette has had eight All-Rookie selections since 1990-91.

Trist is aveagaing 5.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game overall and 6.8 points per game in conference play. Trist has started 19 games and 14 of the last 15 games. He played his best basketball of the season in four games from Jan. 19-28. The Economics major averaged 10.8 ppg, contributing 11 at Holy Cross and vs. American and 13 against Lehigh and at Colgate. Trist was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Jan. 23.

Lehigh's C.J. McCollum was named Player of the Year while Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen was voted as Coach of the Year by his peers. Paulsen's senior guard Bryan Cohen earned his third Defensive Player of the Year honor. Ella Ellis (Army), Charles Hinkle (American) and Mike Muscala (Bucknell) join Willen and McCollum on the First Team. Cameron Ayers (Bucknell), Devin Brown (Holy Cross), Gabe Knutson (Lehigh) and Joe Willman (Bucknell) were Second-Team honorees along with Johnson and Cohen. Army's Maxwell Lenox and Navy's Worth Smith rounded out the All-Rookie Team along with Hinrichs, Trist and Burrell.

The Leopards are 12-17 overall and finished in fifth place in the Patriot League standings with a 7-7 conference mark. For the second straight year, Lafayette will travel to Holy Cross for the opening round of the conference tournament on Wednesday. Holy Cross has won six straight and is 15-13 overall, finishing in fourth place with a 9-5 mark.