The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

WORCESTER, Mass.-- WPI's Ryan Cain was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men's Basketball Player of the Year by the league's coaches in all-conference voting.

Erich Bracht of MIT was selected the NEWMAC's Rookie of the Year while Stephen Brennan of Babson garnered the conference's Coach of the Year honor. Coast Guard took home the conference's inaugural Sportsmanship Award.

Cain, a native of Webster , MA , has led Engineers to a 22-3 record, and their fourth straight NEWMAC regular season title. The senior guard placed in the top eight in six different NEWMAC statistical categories, including scoring (19.7 ppg - second), three-point percentage (44.1% - second) and free throw percentage (85.6% - third). Cain, who also won the award as a sophomore, is one of ten finalists nationwide for the prestigious Jostens Award.

Bracht, who hails from Highlands Ranch, CO, burst onto the NEWMAC college basketball scene. He led MIT in rebounding, averaging 9.1 rebounds per contest, while scoring 13.1 points per game. Bracht proved to be a double-double machine as he registered 10 performances with double-digit scoring and rebounding.

Brennan guided Babson to a second place finish in the regular season. Under his tutelage, the Beavers enjoyed a six game turnaround in NEWMAC and improved on last season's win total by seven games overall.

Coast Guard, led by head coach Pete Barry, was honored with the conference's inaugural Sportsmanship Award.

Joining Cain on the All-NEWMAC first team is Jimmy Bartolotta of MIT, Antoine Coleman of WPI, Zach Etten of Babson and Jeff Prebeck of Coast Guard.

In addition to Bracht, other second team All-NEWMAC selections include Mark Alexander of Clark, Al Sowers of Coast Guard, Jamaal Gibbs of Springfield and Wheaton 's Brian Zukowski.

NEWMAC Announces 2006-2007 Men's Basketball All-Conference Awards