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EABL Regular Season Award Winners Announced

The 2022/23 EABL regular season provided some stunning performances and campaigns worthy of recognition.

With MVP, All-Conference 1st and 2nd teams, Most Improved Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, U17 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honours available across both the North and South Conferences, the end-of-season awards are a great chance to single out some of those great contributions to the 2022/23 season.

Congratulations to all those chosen and don’t forget you can still attend tomorrow’s EABL playoff final between Myerscough College and Barking Abbey at Manchester’s National Basketball Performance Academy.

Tickets to attend the final are free, but still need to be purchased for capacity reasons. To secure your ticket, please head to the Basketball England shop by clicking here.

MVP

Given some of his numbers this season, it’s no surprise to see SGS’ Louie Tucker sealing the North Conference MVP award.

Tucker returned from a stint in the States to lead the EABL standings in efficiency (22.0EFF) and scoring (25.6PPG), coming in eight for rebounding (9.8RPG) and 3PT% (36.2%).

SGS narrowly missed out on making a first playoff appearance since 2014/15, with Tucker leading the South West programme to an 8-5 record.

Barking claimed the South Conference and their success was built on a stellar season from Nedas Cholevinskas.

The talented youngster closed with stats of 16.0EFF and 15.0PPG, also doing his bit on the boards to pull down 7.8RPG.

Barking came through a demanding close to their season, eventually sealing an 11-1 record and top spot, with Cholevinskas leading the way.

Coach of the Year

Derby’s Matt Shaw has been singled out as the North’s Coach of the Year.

Shaw now has four coaching awards under his belt for his time in the EABL, with his most recent coming in 2018/19.

The Trailblazers have made it to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons now, with the esteemed coach getting the best from his roster this term to put together a 9-5 record.

CoLA make it one-two in the South after WEABL compatriot Jackson Gibbons sealed COTY honours yesterday, with Jay Williams also earning recognition for a great season in the Capital.

CoLA’s 10-2 record was good for second place in the South, only being pipped by Barking in the final week of the regular season.

Overseeing the development of players like Clemson Edomwonyin, Max Coupe and Di-Jani Parkinson, it’s been a great season for the London programme and Williams deserves his plaudits.

All Conference 1st Team

MVP Tucker is joined by Sheffield’s Declan Kom (22.0PPG), who finished second behind the SGS man in the EABL scoring charts this year. As 2021/22’s U17 Player of the Year, Kom built on his potential to put together a great season.

Peter Asante (10.9PPG, 4.2APG) is the lone representative for conference winners Myerscough, whilst Manchester duo Joe Buchanan (19.9PPG) and Ben Brown (17.9PPG) both make the cut after helping Magic to a 9-5 season.

Cholevinskas is joined by BA team-mate Michael Amako, with the South Conference standout hitting a league-best 50% of his 3PT attempts this season as part of his 13.9PPG output.

CoLA’s Clemson Edomwonyin (10.2PPG, 8.9RPG) leads the league in blocks at 1.8 per game and gets the nod here, progressing from his Defensive Player of the Year pick a year ago.

Di-Jani Parkinson is also included, with his 13.2PPG, 6.9RPG, 3.8APG numbers, and Tyler Fairbairn (16.9PPG) is Itchen’s only selection after their 9-3 year.

All Conference 2nd Team

There’s a trio of picks in the North’s 2nd team for runners up Charnwood, with Lane Campbell (17.6PPG), Lamarana Diallo (16.3PPG) and Edward Onyia (13.4PPG) all being selected.

Matt Goodwin (20.1PPG, 3.1SPG) finished fourth in the EABL scoring charts and second in the steals list, making him a logical choice, whilst 6’2″ guard Denilson Caschili (11.4PPG, 5.8RPG) secures Myerscough further accolades.

The South’s leading scorer Ashley Kitchen (20.4PPG) finds his way into the 2nd team for JMA, with CoLA’s Max Coupe (14.8PPG) joining him.

Canterbury went 5-7 this season to earn fourth place and a spot in the playoffs, with Tim Oboh (11.6PPG, 8.1RPG) recognised for the part he played in that.

Barking captain Jamari Seri (10.1PPG, 2.2SPG) makes the cut, with Itchen guard Zak Missouri (9.4PPG, 4.2APG) rounding out the five.

Defensive Player of the Year

With plenty of defensive work failing to show up on stat sheet, it’s always interesting to see who catches the eye defensively for coaches across the league.

Myerscough have been a strong defensive unit this season, and being hard to break down undoubtedly led them to the top of the North standings.

Stephen Asante was an important part of that, and he’s joined this season by a repeat winner in the form of Clemson Edomwonyin.

The CoLA forward took this award last year and has continued his defensive output to seal the accolade for a second year running.

Most Improved Player

Not content with a spot in the South’s 1st team plus a Defensive Player of the Year nod, CoLA’s Clemson Edomwonyin makes it three wins for the season as he takes the Most Improved Player award.

The 6’8″ has showed coaches across the conference this season that the sky’s the limit for his potential at both ends of the court.

Likewise, Derby’s 6’7 forward Elliot Lawrence has shown the strides he’s taken this year as part of the Trailblazers’ roster.

Averaging 9.7PPG to go with 6.5RPG and one of the best True Shooting clips in the league (63.0%), Lawrence has come a long way under COTY Matt Shaw’s watch in 2022/23.

U17 Player of the Year

Awarded to the best Year 12 players from across the league, Manchester’s Matt Goodwin and Canterbury’s Tim Oboh have both been recognised.

With both players sealing conference 2nd team honours despite their young age, it’s no surprise to see both players singled out here as two of the best U17s in the EABL this season.

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