Bryant Takes Home Multiple High Honors from America East

The Bryant men’s basketball team took home three major America East postseason awards on Friday headlined by Kevin Roberson Player of the Year Award winner Earl Timberlake.

Timberlake becomes the first Bulldog to win player of the year honors at the Division I level and also picked up first team and all-defensive honors. Barry Evans was named the America East Newcomer of the Year and Phil Martelli Jr. was named Coach of the Year.

Senior Rafael Pinzon joins Timberlake on the first team, while Evans was named to the second team.

Martelli earns coach of the year honors for the first time in his career and is the third Bryant head coach to earn conference coach of the year honors. This season, he led the Bulldogs to their first America East Regular Season Championship with a 14-2 mark in the league. Bryant enters the postseason with a 20-11 record, marking the most regular season wins in DI program history. Martelli has now guided the Bulldogs to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in DI program history and for the first time since the Bulldogs won 20+ games in four-straight seasons from 2003-07 under Max Good.

Timberlake’s historic honors come on the heels of one of the best all-around seasons in college basketball history. He is the only player in America East history and just the second player in the NCAA (Penn’s AJ Brodeur) to average 15.0+ ppg, 8.0+ rpg, 4.5+ apg and 1.5+ bpg in a single season. Timberlake enters the postseason with 11 double-doubles and ranks in the top 10 in the America East in scoring (9th, 15.2), rebounding (2nd, 8.6), assists (T-1st, 4.6) and blocks (1.7).

The Washington, D.C., native shined in America East play, averaging 14.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.2 bpg and 1.1 spg. He ranks in the top three in the league in rebounding, assists and blocks.
Timberlake has also set the standard in Bryant program history, becoming the first player in school history to record 1,200+ points, 700+ rebounds, 300+ assists and 100+ blocks in a career. He is averaging 14.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 3.8 apg and 1.2 bpg in his 87-game Bryant career.

Evans becomes the second Bulldog in three seasons to earn newcomer of the year honors, joining Sherif Gross-Bullock (2022-23). The Baltimore native shined in his first year as a Bulldog, averaging 13.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.6 apg and 1.4 spg. Evans ranks 17th in scoring, 5th in rebounding, 14th in assists and 9th in steals. The 6-8 wing posted double-figure scoring efforts in 25-of-29 games he appeared in, while grabbing 6+ rebounds on 18 occasions. In league play, Evans averaged 13.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.7 apg and 1.6 spg.

Pinzon earns first team honors after finishing the regular season second in the league with 18.6 ppg. He has posted 11 20-point efforts and three 30-point outings on the year, both the most in the America East. Pinzon has hit 78 threes, ranking second in the league in total threes and threes/game (2.8). He finished the regular season at 39.6 percent from three, the fourth-best mark in a single season in Bryant DI program history. Pinzon has shined in two seasons at Bryant, averaging 15.6 ppg in 61 games as a Bulldog. He is averaging 2.2 3pFG per game over his career and enters the postseason with 949 points in the Black and Gold.

Top-seeded Bryant hosts No. 8 seed UMBC on Saturday (Mar. 4) in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 Jersey Mike’s America East Men’s Basketball Playoffs. Tip is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center.