TOWSON, Md. - The Landmark Conference announced the 2023-2024 Men's Basketball Awards, as voted on by the league's 10 head coaches.
Offensive Player of the Year: Jesse Hafemeister (Catholic University)
Defensive Player of the Year: David Musial (Drew University)
Rookie of the Year: Liech Kong (Goucher College)
Coaching Staff of the Year: Catholic University (Aaron Kelly)
Hafemeister earns his first Player of the Year and his fourth All-Landmark Conference First Team Selection. The senior was a leader in many statistical categories in the Landmark, including the league-high in points scored in a game (38 points) free throw percentage (82.5%), and finished third in scoring (17.5ppg), and fourth in field goal percentage (50.7%). He was the leading scorer for the Cardinals this season, but his offensive dominance was on full display during conference play, where Hafemeister scored 12 points or more in his last 11 contests, including two 30-point games. The Cardinals are set to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017 and will host Worcester State on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Musial becomes the third Drew Ranger to win Defensive Player of the Year and the first since Malachai Walker repeated the award in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Starting in all 26 games this season, Musial was a force on the defensive end of the floor, finishing the season tied-second in steals this season (59) and tied-second in steals per game (2.3).
Goucher's Liech Kong showed his potential this season, earning himself Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year. Starting in 16 games, Kong averaged double-figures (10.1ppg) and was fourth for the Gophers in scoring and shot 35.6% from the three-point line, giving Goucher the momentum they needed through the season to clinch its first-ever Landmark Conference tournament birth. Kong is the second Goucher men's basketball player named Rookie of the Year. He joins teammate Jacob Smith, who won the award in the 2017-2018 season.
Head Coach Aaron Kelly and his staff were named Landmark Coaching Staff of the Year in his fifth season at the helm at Catholic. In his five years at Catholic, Kelly led one of his most talented rosters to date to a Landmark Conference championship this year, their first Landmark title since 2016. By the end of the season, the Cardinals (24-3, 16-2 Landmark) finished first in the conference in scoring margin, defeating teams by an average of 16.1 points per contest. They also showed discipline on both ends of the floor, finishing first in team field goal percentage (48.4%) and team three-point field goal percentage (38.2%), and holding opponents to the lowest field goal percentage (39.4%) and three-point field goal percentage (31.9%) in the conference.
Catholic and Wilkes led the All-Conference selections with three, followed by Drew, Elizabethtown, Goucher, Susquehanna, and with two. Juniata, Lycoming, Moravian, and Scranton each had an All-Conference selection as well.