DELHI, N.Y. (February 22, 2018) – The Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (NIAC) recently announced its men's basketball all-conference teams, which featured four Broncos. Sophomore guard Jake Slobe (Red Creek, NY / Red Creek) was named the league's Sixth Man of the Year. Fellow sophomore guard William Knight (Valley Stream, NY / Valley Stream South) earned first-team accolades, while sophomore forward Payton Dean (Harpursville, NY / Harpursville) was named to the second team and senior forward Stephen Harten (Cortlandt Manor, NY / Lakeland) earned a spot of the All-Defensive Team. Each played a vital part in the team finishing the regular season at 15-14 after an 0-4 start to the year.
Knight and Slobe shared time as the Broncos' shooting guard, ranking first and second in scoring, respectively, with 14.3 ppg. and 12.7 ppg. Knight, who played in 24 games with 14 starts, tallied eight 20-point games, including one 40-point game in Delhi's 110-58 rout of College of St. Joseph on Jan. 10. Both the team's and Knight's showings that game marked the highest-scoring single-game performances under third-year head coach Zack Thomsen, and earned Knight ACAA Player of the Week honors. In his first year as a Bronco, Slobe tallied a trio of 20-point contests, including a career-best 25 points at Buffalo State on Nov. 28. The former transfer from Onondaga C.C. was also named to the ACAA All-Academic Team earlier this year with a 3.69 GPA as a Criminal Justice major.
In his first year as Delhi's starting forward, Dean leads the squad with 8.1 rpg. and third with 11.9 ppg. The sophomore from Harpursville, NY tallied nine double-doubles, along with one 20-point game. Dean earned both USCAA and ACAA Player of the Week honors in November after his 18-point, 23-board performance versus Berkeley NY helped the Broncos to an 88-84 upset win, snapping the three-time defending national champions' 56-game winning streak, which accumulated over three seasons. He also enjoyed a stretch where he scored in double figures in nine straight games, which coincided with Delhi's season-high six-game winning streak. The 6'7" forward picked up his second ACAA weekly honor after scoring a career-best 22 points at Fisher on Jan. 17.
Harten, as SUNY Delhi's sole senior, was the only Bronco to start all 29 games, ranking third on the team with 5.3 rpg. and fourth with a 41.1 field goal percentage (53-for-129). The Cortlandt Manor, NY native was named the ACAA's first Player of the Week of the season after opening the year with ten points and six rebounds at Vermont Tech on Nov. 8 and six points and ten boards versus Fisher on Nov. 12. He scored in double digits in three games and grabbed double-digit rebounds in three contests. His season highs were scoring 15 points versus Maine Machias on Dec. 18 and pulling down 11 boards at Florida National on Jan. 6.
The Broncos wrap up their regular season at this weekend's NIAC Tournament, hosted by Villa Maria. They will take on Maine Fort Kent in the semifinals on Friday at 6:00 p.m.
