March 4, 2005
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Deng Gai, the nation's leading shot blocker, earned his third Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) defensive player of the year award as the conference announced its annual post-season major awards. It marked the fourth time in as many years that a Fairfield University men's basketball player won this award - Tyquawn Goode in 2004 and Gai in 2002, 2003, and 2005.
Gai collected the accolades after blocking 160 shots in the team's 28-game regular-season, which breaks down to 5.7 blocks per contest. He currently ranks eighth all-time on the NCAA Division I list with 439 rejections, while the 160 blocks ties him with Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning for ninth on the single-season list.
The senior has blocked six or more shots in 14 games this year, with Fairfield winning nine of those contests. He set a personal-high with 13 blocks against Siena, one off the record held by four players including Navy's David Robinson. He needs six more blocks to move up to sixth all-time for career blocks, surpassing UConn's Emeka Okafor (441 in 103 games) and Ohio State's Ken Johnson (444 in 127 games). Those six blocks would also place him seventh all-time on the single-season list.
Niagara's Juan Mendez captured the MAAC player of the year award, while C.J. Anderson collected the MAAC rookie of the year plaque. There was a three-way tie for the MAAC sixth man of the year award between Loyola's Charlie Bell, Niagara's James Mathis, and Rider's Terrence Mouton.
Fairfield begins play in the 2005 MAAC tournament on Saturday night at 9:30 pm, taking on the winner between sixth-seeded Manhattan College and ninth-seeded Loyola College tonight.
