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Ryan Connolly
  • Accounting and Finance
  • Class of 2017
  • Harleysville, Pa.

Ryan Connolly of Harleysville Named to 2017 All-PSAC Men's Basketball Team

2017 Mar 2

Ryan Connolly of Harleysville, PA (19438) was one of four Kutztown University men's basketball players to be named to the 2017 All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) team on Thursday.

Josh Johnson headlined the four, as he was named this year's PSAC Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Year - becoming the first player in conference history to earn both the overall Athlete and Defensive Athlete of the Year awards in a career.

Johnson and junior point guard Ethan Ridgeway were named All-PSAC East First Team, the second year in a row for Johnson and first career postseason honor Ridgeway.

Redshirt-sophomore Anthony Lee and redshirt-senior Ryan Connolly repeated last year's honors with All-PSAC Second Team recognition.

The Golden Bears (25-2, 21-2), ranked fifth in Division II, won its second straight PSAC East title this year and are coming off a PSAC Quarterfinal win Wednesday night over West Chester. The win was 17th straight, as it matched the 2009-10 team for the second-most victories in a season in program history.

KU advances to its sixth PSAC Final Four in school history, and second in the last three years, and will play Gannon on Saturday, March 4, at 1 p.m. at Indiana University (PA) in the PSAC Final Four.

A win over Gannon, the two-seed in the PSAC West, and the Golden Bears would match the 1917-18 team, who went a perfect 18-0, for the longest win streak in program history.

If victorious in the semifinal Saturday, Kutztown will play for its first PSAC Championship in school history on Sunday, March 5 at 3 p.m. at IUP.

First Team, Defensive Athlete of the Year - Josh Johnson

Johnson, last year's PSAC East Athlete of the Year, is a three-time All-PSAC East selection and back-to-back First Team honoree. A two-year team captain, he ranks among the PSAC leaders in both blocks and steals per game. He ranks seventh in the PSAC in blocks-per-game at 1.1. His 30 this year gives him 124 for his career for seventh all-time at KU. Johnson also has a career-high 43 steals - 12th in the PSAC at 1.6 per game.

Offensively, Johnson is averaging a career-high 16.0 points per game as a senior while shooting a career-best and PSAC-leading 64.7 percent from the field. He averages 7.3 rebounds - eighth in PSAC - and has posted at least 10 points and seven rebounds in eight straight games, including a career-high 31 points Wednesday night against West Chester.

For his career, Johnson has started in 111-of-115 career games (three non-starts as a freshman and one last year for Senior Day). He ranks fourth in school history with 1,677 career points, five points shy of tying Lock Jennings for third place. Johnson ranks third in rebounds with 862, fourth among active NCAA players and two shy of tying Bilal Salaam for second all-time at KU, second in field goals made with 658, and fourth in free throws made with 342.

First Team - Ethan Ridgeway

Ridgeway has burst on the scene in his first year as a starter. He leads the PSAC and ranks second in all of Division II at 9.0 assists per game. He is the school-record holder for assists in a game (14 on three occasions), season (243), and as a junior, became the career record holder Wednesday night with 448 in 85 games (5.3 career average). His 243 assists this year stand ninth all-time in PSAC single-season history.

Scoring wise, Ridgeway averages a career-high 14.6 points per game and has risen to ninth in single-season school history with 130 made free throws. Notably, he made all 10 attempts in a game last week to put him among the school-record holders for percentage in a game. He is in a stretch of three-straight double-doubles and eight this season.

Defensively, he ranks fifth in the PSAC in steals at 1.9 per game.

Second Team - Anthony Lee

Lee has earned All-PSAC East Second Team honors in each of his first two seasons at KU. He is KU's leading scorer at 16.1 per game, good for 12th in the PSAC. He is also fifth in the league in field goal percentage (.559) and steals per game (1.9), ninth in blocks per game (1.0) and 13th in 3-pointers per game (2.3).

His .530 3-point percentage would be leading not only the conference, but the entire NCAA if qualified (min 2.5 per game).

For his career, Lee has started in 51-of-57 games in two years. He has scored 823 points and holds excellent career percentages of 56.4 from the field, 49.2 from 3-point range and 84.9 from the free throw line. His career averages stand at 14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals.

Second Team - Ryan Connolly

Connolly closes his career with two straight All-PSAC East Second Team nods. He is KU's all-time leader in career 3-pointers with 220 and moved just four away from trying the program record with 72 in a season. The redshirt-senior is currently ninth in the PSAC in 3-pointers per game (2.5) and fourth in 3-point percentage (.420).

He is averaging 12.1 points per game and while battling through injuries, has managed to start in an impressive 102-of-105 career games (missed 2014-15 season to injury). He has scored 1,142 career points, a 10.8 career average, and is a career 85.4 percent free-throw shooter.

Connolly has also grabbed 482 career rebounds, six shy of KU's top-10, with 164 assists and 100 steals.