LANCASTER, Pa. - The Atlantic East Conference announced the Men's Basketball All-Conference teams and major award winners on Monday afternoon, as Neumann University, Gwynedd Mercy and Marymount University grabbed major honors. 

Neumann’s top talent repeated as major award winners. Jalen Vaughns repeated as the Player of the Year, while teammate Tony James was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

Vaughns led the conference in points with 546 and rebounds with 253. The junior averaged a double-double with 22.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Vaughns had a 59.2% FG shooting percentage on the season and also blocked 32 shots. Vaughns earned seven weekly player or defensive player of the week honors this season.

James was a force defensively for the strong Neumann Knights team. The senior had 191 rebounds (115 defensive rebounds), 10 blocked shots, and also dished out 69 assists and 288 points. James led the team on the defensive side to the conference championship game.

Gwynedd Mercy’s DJ Johnson earned Rookie of the Year after a strong first year performance. Johnson was first in the conference with 62 steals and 2.3 per game. The first year also dished out 75 assists for 2.8 per game. In his first season with the Griffins Johnson scored 196 points good for 7.3 per game.

Marymount was awarded Coaching Staff of the year after winning their first Atlantic East Conference championship and completing the regular season as the top team in the conference. They are coached by Chris Rogers, and assisted by Ozzie Smith, Josh Arruda, and Ted Bardach.

Finally, the Atlantic East Elite 20 award winner for men's basketball, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site at each of the Atlantic East's 20 team championships, is Jack Bifano from Marymount University. Bifanao maintains a 4.00 GPA while being a part of the conference championship Saints team.  For the entire selection criteria and process, click here.

For the full list of All-Conference teams, check out below...

Player of the Year - Jalen Vaughns, Neumann
Defensive Player of the Year - Tony James, Neumann
Rookie of the Year – DJ Johnson, Gwynedd Mercy
Coaching Staff of the Year - Marymount University
Elite 20 Winner - Jack Bifano, Marymount
 
First Team - 
-Manny Clark, Gwynedd Mercy
- Wyatt Hockenberry, Marymount
- Maracus Stubbs, Marymount
- Jalen Vaughns, Neumann
- Billy Veras, Centenary

Second Team - 
- Ryan Byars, Cabrini
- Jason Holman, Marywood
- Ahmadu Sarnor, Cabrini
- Ryan Starr, Neumann
- Aquil Stewart, Cabrini