Oswego State men's basketball senior forward Chad Burridge has been named the 2011-12 D3hoops.com  and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) East Region Player of the Year.  Buffalo State’s Jake Simmons joins Burridge as a first-team All-Region selection by both associations while Oswego’s Hayden Ward earned second-team NABC All-Region honors.  In addition, Oswego head coach Jason Leone was selected the NABC All-Region Coach of the Year.

Burridge averaged 16.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game to help lead the Lakers to the program's best overall record at 26-4, an undefeated conference record of 18-0, and the program's first State University of New York Athletic Conference Championship since 1965. The two-time reigning SUNYAC Player of the Year showed his value to the team by averaging 28.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in Oswego State's two NCAA Tournament contests.

Burridge finished his career ranked second on the career scoring list at 1,865 points, averaging 16.6 points per game. He became the program's career block leader with 253 blocked shots this season and ranks second with 875 career rebounds.

Simmons, a junior guard, paced the top-ranked offense in the SUNYAC, and earned All-Conference honors for the third-consecutive year, including his second-straight first team nod.  He was second in the conference in scoring, averaging 20.7 points-per-game.  He set new school records for free throw percentage (.864) and 3-pointers in a season (94), and led the conference in each category.  He was also second in the SUNYAC with 51 steals.  Buffalo State ended the season 18-9 overall and was 11-7 in league play.  The Bengals advanced to the SUNYAC Quarterfinals, before dropping an 89-83 decision at Brockport.

Burridge and Simmons now move on to the All-America ballot for each organization.  Those awards will be announced later this month. 

Ward averaged 15.7 points and 9.1 rebounds in 30 games en route to recording 13 double-doubles, while shooting 49.4 percent from the field.  Overall, Ward lead the team in rebounding with 272 boards and was second in scoring with 471 points on the season.  He was named first-team All-SUNYAC and to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team after finishing with 24 points and 13 rebounds in the championship game.

In his first season at the Lakers' helm, Jason Leone guided Oswego State an unblemished conference record of 18-0 en route to earning the No.1 seed in the conference tournament for the second straight year.  Oswego State earned its first SUNYAC title since 1965 to clinch an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history, where the Lakers overcome a 15-point deficit and advanced in overtime past Endicott during the first round before falling in double overtime to Eastern Connecticut in the second round.