Orono, ME - The America East Conference announced on Friday morning that Kellen Tynes and AJ Lopez of the University of Maine men's basketball program earned awards for their regular season performances.

Tynes, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, cemented himself as one of the best defensive players to ever come through the America East as he earned his third-straight Defensive Player of the Year honor, becoming just the second player in America East history to accomplish the feat. Along with his Defensive Player of the Year award, Tynes was named to the America East All-Conference Second Team and to the America East All-Defensive Team.

Tynes concluded his third and final regular season as a Black Bear by posting career-highs nearly across the board. He set a new career-highs in the regular season in assists (143), assists per game (4.6), steals (97), blocks (21), three-pointers (23), three-point% (33.9%) and free throw% (75.3%). He also averaged the second-most points per game of his career at 12.7 per game.

Lopez, a native of Queens, NY, earned his spot on the America East All-Conference Second Team as he ranked in the top-10 in every scoring category in the America East in conference games. He ranked 10th in points per game (15.8), eighth in total points (253), 10th in field goal% (50.3%) and first in free throw% (91.1%). He set new career-highs in every statistically category besides blocks that is tracked by the NCAA, most impressively a six-point jump in his scoring average per game from a season ago (8.6-14.6) and an 8% jump in his three-point% (34.2%-42.2%). His 91% shooting from the free-throw line was the seventh-highest mark in all of the NCAA.

-UMaine-