CLEVELAND – Four University of Akron men's basketball players picked up All-Mid-American Conference honors on Wednesday in the league's final batch of postseason awards. Voting was conducted by the league's 12 head coaches.

Senior forward Jimmy Conyers, who was named the conference's defensive player of the year earlier in the week, was chosen to the all-league first team, while brothers Chris McKnight (senior forward) and Brett McKnight (junior forward) each earned an honorable mention nod. Highly-touted 7-foot center Zeke Marshall was selected to the all-freshman squad.

Wednesday's announcement marked the third-straight season a Zips player has been tabbed to the MAC's all-rookie team (Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens in 2009 and Steve McNees in 2008), while Conyers is the first UA player to garner first-team recognition since Romeo Travis did so in 2007 (Travis was also MAC Player of the Year that season). It is also Conyers's first MAC postseason award.

Conyers leads Akron in scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg) in MAC games, and ranks second on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.8 rpg, ranks sixth in the MAC) in all games. He has a team-best seven double-doubles this season and for his career, which ties as the second most by a MAC player this season. Additionally, 307 of his 572 career points have come this season.

Brett McKnight, who leads UA in scoring this season at 10.3 points per game, was a second-team choice last season, while Chris McKnight (averages 10.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in MAC play this season) was an honorable mention choice last year as well.

Marshall leads the league in blocked shots, with 50 (ranks third on school's single-season chart), and has started in 24 of a possible 31 games this season. His six blocked shots versus Niagara on Nov. 29 tied the school record.

In head coach Keith Dambrot's six seasons at the helm of the program, Akron has received 19 All-MAC selections.

Third-seeded Akron (22-9, 12-4 MAC) will face sixth-seeded Eastern Michigan (17-14, 8-8 MAC) at approximately 2 p.m. ET on Thursday in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal round at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Ohio. The Zips are the defending tournament champion and have appeared in the event's title game in each of the last three seasons.


All-MAC First Team
Jimmy Conyers, Akron
Rodney Pierce, Buffalo
Kenny Hayes, Miami
David Kool, Western Michigan
Chris Singletary, Kent State

All-MAC Second Team
Jordan Bitzer, Central Michigan
Robbie Harman, Central Michigan
Carlos Medlock, Eastern Michigan
Brandon Bowdry, Eastern Michigan
Justin Greene, Kent State

All-MAC Honorable Mention
Chris McKnight, Akron
Brett McKnight, Akron
Jarrod Jones, Ball State
Scott Thomas, Bowling Green
Calvin Betts, Buffalo
Justin Dobbins, Eastern Michigan
Julian Mavunga, Miami
Xavier Silas, Northern Illinois
D.J. Cooper, Ohio
Armon Bassett, Ohio

All-Freshman Team
Zeke Marshall, Akron
Jauwan Scaife, Ball State
D.J. Cooper, Ohio
Jake Barnett, Toledo
Nate Hutcheson, Western Michigan