Courtesy of GoPurpleEagles.com
ALBANY, N.Y. – Redshirt-senior guard Kahlil Dukes has been named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Year announced on Friday. Dukes, who shares the award with Canisius’ Jermaine Crumpton, becomes the fourth Purple Eagle in program history to be named MAAC Player of the Year.
Dukes joins Juan Mendez (2004-05), current UPrep assistant coach Demond Stewart (2000-01), and Alvin Young (1998-99) as MAAC Player of the Year recipients from Niagara University.
Dukes, who was named to the 2017-18 All-MAAC Preseason Second Team, was the only unanimous selection to the 2017-18 All-MAAC First Team announced on February 26. Dukes posted career-highs with 21.1 points per game and 3.3 assists per game while setting career-high numbers in field goal percentage (46.7 percent), 3-point field goal percentage (42.8 percent), 3-pointers made (92), and total free throws made (141). A two-time MAAC Player of the Week recipient, Dukes is second in the MAAC in scoring and leads in the conference in free throw percentage (90.4 percent), 3-pointers and 3-point field goal percentage.
Dukes has produced several electric offensive performances throughout the season. He has 21 20-point games, including two 30-point games, which leads the MAAC and are seventh most in the nation. Dukes led all scorers with a career-high 37 points, including going 10-for-10 at the free-throw line, at Monmouth on February 4 for the most points by a Purple Eagle in four seasons. His career-high eight 3-pointers at New Hampshire are tied for second most in program history and are tied for the most in the MAAC this season. He recorded his first career double-double with 25 points and a career-high 11 assists versus Saint Francis (PA) on December 10.
Dukes, who set the single-season free throw percentage (92.1) record last season, is on pace to set the program’s career free throw percentage record. This season, he set the program’s record for consecutive made free throws with 38, breaking the record of 27 straight by Calvin Murphy during the 1969-70 season. He is fifth in career free throw percentage (90.7 percent) among current NCAA Division I student-athletes. Dukes is also the first Purple Eagle to be named to the All-MAAC First Team in five seasons.
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