Black Knights Name Team Award Winners at Banquet

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team held its annual end-of-the-year banquet on Sunday afternoon at the Kimsey Athletic Center.

After losing nearly all of its scoring from a season ago, Army impressed many with its youthful lineup during the 2016-17 campaign. Led by four seniors, the young Black Knights finished their season with an overall record of 13-19 to go along with their conference mark of 6-12.

The Cadets' ride ended in the conference quarterfinals, but not before first-year head coach Jimmy Allen's squad gave fans plenty to cheer about. The Black Knights defeated service-academy rival Air Force for the third-straight season, while also earning an epic come-from-behind victory on the road at Navy to bring the Alumni Trophy back to West Point.

Army's 25-point comeback win at Navy on Feb. 18 was its largest in school history and largest in the Army-Navy series records book. The Black Knights trailed by 25 with 12:51 remaining in the second half. Army then used a 33-8 run over the next 10 minutes to knot the score and get itself back into the game. It was the fifth-latest comeback by 25-or-more points in NCAA history. It is also tied for the 11th-largest overall comeback to win in NCAA lore.

After some welcoming remarks to kick things off, Coach Allen introduced a special guest – former Army basketball standout Bill Schutsky.

Schutsky was the Cadets' team captain under Bob Knight for 1967-68 season in which they finished 20-5 (.800), the academy's first 20-win regular season in program history. He scored 1,292 points (16th all-time) in his three seasons while playing in 71 total games. He posted a .491 field goal percentage, a .799 free throw percentage and averaged 5.4 rebounds and 18.2 points per game (9th all-time).

He notched three 30-plus scoring nights throughout his career and was named a two-time Converse Yearbook (honorable mention), and an Associated Press All-American (honorable mention), while being tabbed a 1967 and 1968 NABC All-District Second Team honoree.

After serving time, Schutsky came back to help guide the Black Knights as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski during the 1977-78 season.

His moving speech was followed by the invocation from junior Luke Morrison before dinner was served.

The emcee and Army's Assistant AD for Multimedia and Broadcasting, Rich DeMarco, then introduced Coach Allen to begin handing out team awards.

He was joined by assistant coaches Brandon Linton, Drew Adams, Ben Wilkins and Zak Boisvert in presenting the individual awards.

Team captains Richard Brown, Mac Hoffman and Scott Mammel were presented the first honor of the day, which were the Simpson Memorial Awards. These accolades are given annually to West Point captains in memory of First Lieutenant Eber E. Simpson, a Class of 1943 USMA graduate.

Hoffman was not finished on the day though as the senior was also honored with the Stilwell Award, given for outstanding leadership and character. The Stilwell Award is presented in honor of General Joseph Stilwell, a member of the West Point Class of 1904. Stilwell is known for introducing basketball to the Academy as a cadet and served as the head coach of West Point's first team.

The final honor of the night was the Roosma Award given to the team's most valuable player. Jordan Fox was the recipient of this well-deserved award which is named for Colonel John S. Roosma, a Class of 1926 USMA graduate. Roosma was captain of the basketball team and was Army's first 1,000-point scorer.

To wrap up the special day, senior players Brown, Kennedy Edwards, Hoffman and Mammel reflected on their time at Army West Point with individual speeches.

The event concluded with a highlight video from this past year put together by Coach Boisvert.

Army West Point Athletics

Black Knights Name Team Award Winners at Banquet

Related News

Players Mentioned

Richard Brown

Kennedy Edwards

Jordan Fox

Mac Hoffman

Scott Mammel

Luke Morrison

Related Videos