Canisius Guard Baron Named ECAC Division I All-Star
MAAC Sports
Canisius College senior guard Billy Baron has been named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division I Men’s Basketball All-Star team, the ECAC announced. Baron, selected a second team All-Star, was chosen from a pool of 88 member institutions representing 17 Division I conferences. The balloting was completed by head coaches within the ECAC Division I men’s basketball membership.
An Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection and the 2014 Pepsi MAAC Player of the Year, Baron finished his senior campaign ranked fourth in the nation in scoring average with 24.1 points per game. He was the only Division I men’s basketball player in the country to average better than 20.0 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last season, and he is one of just two players in the nation to average more than 20.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. The MAAC’s leader in assists per game at 5.3 per contest, he finished his senior season with 180 assists, ranking fourth in school history for assists in a single season.
Baron was one of five players selected to the ECAC Division I All-Star Second Team, where he was joined by Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Aaron Craft (Ohio State), Bryce Cotton (Providence) and Wesley Saunders (Harvard). The ECAC Division I All-Star First Team was made up of C.J. Fair (Syracuse), Frank Kaminsky (Wisconsin), Shabazz Napier (UConn), Jabari Parker (Duke) and Nick Stauskas (Michigan). Napier was honored as the ECAC Division I Player of the Year and Parker was voted the ECAC Division I Rookie of the Year.
Baron scored in double figures 33 times in 2013-14, including 20 or more points in 26 games. He had 30 or more points in nine games, highlighted by his career-high 40-point effort at Siena Feb. 16. His 821 total points in 2013-14 are the most for a senior in school history, and he also set the Canisius record with 107 three-point field goals in 2013-14.
Baron closed out his career at Canisius as just the fourth player in the program’s 110-year history to score more than 1,400 career points while dishing out 350-plus career assists. A two-time All-MAAC First Team honoree, Baron ended his career ranked 11th in career scoring (1,405 points), fourth in career scoring average (20.7 points per game), fourth in career 3-point field goals (173), first in career free-throw percentage (85.9 percent) and ninth in career assists (351).
The East Greenwich, R.I. native was the school’s first finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, presented annually to the nation’s top point guard. He led the Griffs to a 21-13 overall mark, a 14-6 record in MAAC games, and a berth in the CIT, the program’s second-straight national postseason appearance. In his two years in a Canisius uniform, Baron helped the Blue and Gold to 41 victories, the program’s best two-year stretch since 1993-95.