Veteran, young star slam season MVP awards

Veteran Justin Benson continues to rewrite the history books after winning a 12th men’s A-grade Most Valuable Player honour at last Friday night’s Albany Basketball Association awards.

Benson, one of the most decorated players in ABA history, tied with youngster Matt Leary last season for the top gong but after another stellar season, the umpires adjudged Benson the best player yet again.

The Barking Owls star won by a big margin after receiving 60 votes in 15 regular games, where he averaged more than 11 points per game.

Leary finished runner-up, an incredible performance given he played only six games for Knights, on 35 votes after averaging 15 points per game.

Ambassadors big man Caleb Carmen was third on 34 votes while Knights guard Henrick Alforque (31 votes), Raiders’ Keanu Weeden (30) and Crabs’ Zac Pearson (30) were close behind.

State underage representative Alforque was named recipient of the Haydn Kirkwood Trophy for the best under-18 player in the competition, edging out Weeden by a sole vote.

Magpies stand-out Nardia Humphries was rewarded for her brilliant season by winning her first women’s A-grade MVP award, finishing 20 votes clear of her nearest rival.

Such has been Humphries’ dominance this season, she scored 227 points at an average of 14.1 in 16 games in the regular season and polled 55 votes to be a clear winner.

Panthers star Kayla Thomas finished runner-up on 35 votes while Raiders talent Jasmyne Jones was third on 29 votes.

Panthers quartet Nina Smith (23), Ella Scamozzi (22), Aleesha Narkle (22) and Jade Dimer (22) were next in the standings.

In men’s B-grade division 1, Old Stars’ Tom Powell was named MVP with 60 votes ahead of Railways Tigers’ Zane Marwick on 49.

Thunder’s Gabrielle White and Vipers’ Cathryn Patmore were joint winners of the women’s B-grade MVP award and Bradley Willock was the men’s vets MVP.

Other season MVP winners were Graham Ross (men’s B-grade division 2) and Thomas Eaton (men’s B-grade division 3).