Kevin Broadus’ work to bring a new line of athletes together to win the America East regular season title was highlighted at Friday’s AE men’s basketball awards dinner as the captain of the Bearcats’ ship received the 2008-09 America East Coach of the Year award.

Broadus was recognized for leading the Bearcats to its most successful season in 63 years with the regular season title and winning 13 of 16 conference games. Picked by America East coaches to finish fifth in the preseason poll, the Bearcats exceeded expectations and clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference with a school-record 13-3 conference record for the season.

“I’m proud to accept this award, but it should be a Team of the Year award,” Broadus said according to a Binghamton University press release. “I want to thank our 12 student-athletes and our coaches who worked so hard during this special season. I’m just the co-pilot. I’m deeply humbled and honored to work with these kids at Binghamton.”

Bearcat juniors Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben and D.J. Rivera earned second team all-conference honors, while senior Reggie Fuller made third team all-conference. Fuller was also named to the all-defensive team.

The highlight of the dinner, however, went to Vermont’s Marqus Blakely, who took away the America East Player of the Year award for the second straight season. He is the fifth player in conference history to take home the award in consecutive seasons. But that was not all for the junior forward. Blakely also repeated as the Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the first team all-conference for the second straight year.

Blakely also received the Kevin Roberson Player of the Year award for the second year, one of only six players in conference history to do so. Blakley is on top of the conference in rebounding (9 per game), steals (1.9) and blocks (2.77), and also ranks sixth in scoring with 15.7 points per game. Other players that made first team all-conference were Boston University’s sophomore John Holland and junior Corey Lowe, UMBC’s senior Darryl Proctor and Vermont senior Mike Trimboli.

Rookie of the Year honors were received by Boston University’s Jake O’Brien, who was the America East’s top freshman scorer with 12.6 points per game. He is the third straight Terriers player to earn the award.