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Somerset, NJ -- A two-time NEC all-star from league favorite Merrimack headlines an experienced 2022-23 Preseason All-Northeast Conference (NEC) Men’s Basketball team.

The announcement of the team, along with the preseason coaches’ poll, was made on Wednesday during NEC Men’s Basketball Social Media Day, which aired on NEC Front Row and ESPN3 live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Merrimack senior forward Jordan Minor (Kingston, MA/Brimmer & May), who was named to the All-NEC third team as a sophomore and to the second team last season, was joined on the five-man squad by Saint Francis U redshirt junior forward Josh Cohen (Lincroft, NJ/CBA), Sacred Heart junior forward Nico Galette (Rahway, NJ/Rutgers Prep), St. Francis Brooklyn senior guard Rob Higgins (Middletown, NJ/Middletown North) and CCSU senior guard Nigel Scantlebury (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena (Niagara County CC)).

Minor is hoping to bookend his Merrimack career with NEC regular season crowns while serving as the centerpiece of a program set to take its first crack at postseason play this coming March. The lone returning All-NEC honoree this season, Minor has established himself as one of the league’s premier bigs both in the conference and around the region. At 6’8” and a chiseled 240 lbs., Minor’s unique combination of strength, agility and leaping ability, coupled with his rim-running and rim-protecting skills makes him a dominant presence on both ends of the floor. Minor led the NEC last season with 13 double-doubles and ranked in the NEC top-10 in six different categories, including scoring (15.1, eighth), rebounding (8.2, second), blocks (2.4, second), field goal percentage (.526, seventh) and steals (1.5, eighth). He wad even better in conference play, putting up 15.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg, a league-best 2.6 bpg while shooting 57.0 percent from the field. He enters his senior year with 861 points, 529 rebounds and 130 blocks over three seasons, and has a chance to become the fourth player in NEC history to compile 1,000 points, 750 boards and 200 blocks.

There’s no denying Cohen’s trajectory following his selection as the NEC’s Most Improved Player in 2021-22. Following a promising freshman campaign that saw him bring instant offense to the SFU lineup off the bench, Cohen elevated his game exponentially last season, and he is the latest in a long line of elite Red Flash post players over the last decade. In developing a diverse offensive skillset, the 6’10” forward from Lincroft, NJ is nearly unstoppable around the paint with an array of low post moves in his arsenal, but can also pop out and stick the mid-range jumper and find open teammates from the high post. Cohen raised his scoring average from 5.7 ppg to 12.9 ppg, and his rebounding from 4.6 to 7.0 in 2021-22. He ranked 13th in the NEC in scoring, 10th in rebounding, third in field goal accuracy (.575) and seventh in double-doubles (five).

Galette’s development track has him poised for a breakout season and an opportunity to serve as one of the leaders on a Pioneer team intent on making a deep playoff run with a goal to secure the program’s first-ever NEC title. The sturdy, yet versatile junior forward came into his own as a sophomore, displaying an inside-outside game that made him a difficult matchup for opposing coaches. Galette boosted his scoring average from 3.8 ppg to 12.4 rpg, and ranked third in the league in double-doubles (seven) and fourth in rebounding (8.1). At the same time, the Rahway, NJ product hit 39 shots from downtown at a 35.8 percent clip, the 14th-best mark in the NEC. He closed out his year on a three-game tear that saw him average 20.3 ppg on 62.9 percent shooting from the floor and 57.9 percent from deep.

Higgins came to St. Francis Brooklyn three years ago with a maturity level well beyond his years and has been a mainstay in the lineup throughout his run with 55 starts to his credit. A terrific on-the-ball defender, coupled with his ability to attack the rim and knock down long jumpers, makes him a valuable component in an experienced Terrier backcourt. Higgins has averaged double digits in each of this three seasons and is just 119 points from reaching the 1,000-point mark for his career. The leading returning scorer for SFBK, he averaged 11.5 ppg in 2021-22, and also led the Terriers with 3.3 apg. Higgins, who hails from Middletown, NJ, hit 39 shots from beyond the arc at a career-best 33.1 percent success rate.

The lone senior on a youthful CCSU squad, Scantlebury provides second-year head coach Pat Sellers with a veteran on-court presence as the team’s reigning floor general. The Rochester, NY native came into his own last season, displaying the ability to score at different levels and get to the line, where he made 86.4 percent of his shots to rank second in the conference. The cat-quick guard, who averaged 20.8 ppg on 48/44/88 shooting splits over the last five games of the year, led the Blue Devils and finished 10th in the NEC with 13.4 ppg on the year. He shot a robust 41.2 percent from deep to rank second in the conference, and his 3.5 assists per game placed him seventh on the circuit.
 
2022-23 Northeast Conference Preseason All-Conference Team    
          
Name                School                   Pos.  Ht.   Wt.   Cl.    Hometown/High School

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 42nd season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.