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Somerset, NJ -- The top two teams in the 2016-17 Northeast Conference (NEC) Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll each landed a pair of players on the Preseason All-NEC team as selected by the league’s head coaches.

Preseason NEC favorite and defending conference champion Fairleigh Dickinson is represented by junior guard b and junior swingman Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, MD/Archbishop Spalding). Wagner, picked second in the poll, sports senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated (San Jacinto CC)) and junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic). LIU Brooklyn redshirt senior forward Jerome Frink (Jersey City, NJ/St. Anthony (FIU)) rounds out the five-player team.

All five of the honorees are returning All-NEC performers.

The announcement of the team, along with the preseason coaches’ poll, was made on Wednesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the site of NEC Basketball “Social” Media Day.

Anderson and Potts served as the catalysts as Fairleigh Dickinson won its first NEC championship since 2005 with an 87-79 win over top-seeded Wagner in the title game. The duo combined for 55 points in the final with Potts Jr. earning Tournament MVP honors and Anderson a spot on the All-Tourney team.

Anderson built a well-deserved reputation as a clutch performer last season, with a number of last-second buckets on his highlight reel. Nearly impossible to guard off the dribble and lethal on the break, the 6-1 combo guard was tabbed to the All-NEC second team after ranking fifth in the conference with 15.2 points and 3.7 assists per game. He also ranked second on the circuit with 1.8 steals per outing, shot 79.6 percent from the stripe and drained 47 three-pointers.

It was a rapid rise to stardom for Potts Jr., who was tabbed the NEC’s Most Improved Player after lifting his scoring average from 6.6 ppg as a freshman to 14.7 ppg in his sophomore campaign, good for sixth in the conference. The high-flying versatile swingman, who like Anderson has a penchant for taking - and making - big shots, ranked third in the NEC in three-point percentage (.400), seventh in made trifectas (2.0), eight in the NEC in field goal percentage (.503) and tenth in rebounding (6.3). Potts Jr. was voted to the All-NEC second team at year’s end.
Carey was the key addition for a Wagner team that finished a comfortable two games ahead of the pack in capturing the NEC regular season title and earning the program’s first-ever postseason win over St. Bonaventure in the Postseason NIT. Playing bigger than his listed 6’5” but with the skills of a two-guard, Carey recorded 15 double-doubles to rank third in the NEC. The All-NEC second teamer and member of the NEC All-Tournament team finished the year averaging 12.6 points, and his 9.1 rebounds per game placed him second in the NEC. He also shot 50.3 percent from the field, the seventh-best mark on the loop.

Henson’s long distance shooting prowess has made him a tremendous weapon for Wagner head coach Bashir Mason. Last season he hit 74 shots from long range and led the NEC with 40.2 percent proficiency from beyond the arc. Named to the All-NEC second team and NEC All-Tournament team, the Upper Marlboro, MD native finished the year with a team-high 13.3 points per game to rank eighth in the league. Henson was also the NEC’s seventh most accurate free throw shooter at 82.1 percent and chipped in with 2.9 assists per game.

Frink’s arrival at LIU Brooklyn proved problematic for opposing players and coaches alike. A bruising power forward with stretch-four ability, Frink helped lead the Blackbirds to the NEC semifinals. The lone returning All-NEC first team honoree, Frink ranked third in the NEC in scoring (16.6), fourth in rebounding (9.0) and double-doubles (10), seventh in three-point percentage (.378) and blocks (1.3), ninth in field goal percentage (.503) and 12th in steals (1.3). He finished the year seven 20-point, 10-rebound outings while draining 37 shots from long range.

2016-17 Northeast Conference Preseason All-Conference Team

Name              Team  Pos.  Ht.   Wt.   Cl.   Hometown/High School
BK Ashe           MSM    G    6-1   170   Jr    Washington, D.C./Friendship Collegiate
Darian Anderson   FDU    G    6-1   170   Jr    Washington, D.C./St. John’s College
Michael Carey     WC     G    6-5   200   Sr    Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated (San Jacinto CC)
Jerome Frink      LIU    F    6-7   230   R-Sr  Jersey City, NJ/St. Anthony (FIU)
Corey Henson      WC     G    6-3   175   Jr    Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic
Earl Potts Jr.    FDU   G/F   6-6   200   Jr.   Severn, MD/Archbishop Spalding

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 36th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#22), Baltimore (#26), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+, all @NECsports.