Trey Syroka has been named the Liberty League's men's basketball defensive player of the year, and also made the all-league second team, while Adam Dudzinski was named to the all-league first team, the conference announced Tuesday.

It's the second straight season Syroka has received the second-team honor, and Dudzinski's first in his rookie Liberty League campaign.

"I'm happy for both players," said Chris Downs, the Saints' head coach. "These are team awards as much as they are individual. Our guys realize that they don't get this kind of individual recognition without the collective success of the group. Adam shares the ball as well as anyone on our team, and Trey was the best defensive player on the best defensive team."

And the Saints were statistically the best defensive team across the NCAA's Division III in 2023-24, with their opponents shooting 34.4 per cent over the course of the season – the lowest percentage among any of the 402 DIII men's basketball programs.

Syroka had 56 steals to lead the Saints, and also contributed a team-high 112 assists.

Dudzinski had a career year in his first as a member of the Scarlet and Brown. He had a career-high 27 points against Plattsburgh State in the team's first home game of the season, and he was just getting started.

The forward from Syracuse, N.Y. had the team lead in minutes played, averaging 30, had a .535 three-point percentage for the team lead, also led the team in three-balls with 61, had an average of 15.3 points per game, and 6.3 rebounds per game. On the defensive side of the basketball, he was second on the team in blocks with 14.