Somerset, N.J. – Saint Francis head coach Rob Krimmel and junior guard Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea) took home two of the Northeast Conference's four major awards on Wednesday, as announced by the conference office.
 
Krimmel became SFU's first head coach to win the Jim Phelan Coach of the Year while Braxton became just the second player to win Player of the Year and the first since Mike Iuzzolino in 1990-91.
 
Saint Francis shared the regular-season title with Fairleigh Dickinson and will have home court advantage throughout the NEC Tournament, which starts Wednesday night.
 
Braxton is one of just 18 players in the country with 1,400 career points and 800 career rebounds and one of just three in that category to also have 300 career assists, joining Wisconsin's Ethan Happ and Purdue Fort-Wayne's John Konchar.
 
The junior ranks in the top 10 in the Northeast Conference in scoring (5^th at 16.4 ppg,), rebounding (1^st at 9.7 rpg), assists (7^th at 3.9 apg) and steals (2^nd, 1.7 spg) and leads the league in double-doubles with 12. Despite having a full year of eligibility at the conclusion of the season, he ranks 14th among all active NCAA DI players with 35 career double-doubles and 24^th with 869 career rebounds.
 
Braxton is the first SFU player to post 1,400 career points, 800 career rebounds and 300 career assists and joins Maurice Stokes and Sandy Williams as the only player players to rank in the top 10 in career scoring and rebounding. He is trying to become just the second player in school history to finish with 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, the other being the legendary Maurice Stokes.
 
Braxton lands on the NEC First Team for the second straight season and is once again joined by his counterpart in senior guard Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)). Braxton and King became the first set of teammates to earn First Team All-NEC since Mike Iuzzolino and Joe Anderson in 1990-91 when they did so last season, and they repeat the feat again in 2018-19.
 
King averaged 15.3 ppg for the season and 16. 4 ppg during conference play to lead SFU to its 12-6 record and first-place finish. The diminutive guard ranks 11^th in school history with 1,450 career points and sixth in assists with 369.
 
Braxton and King are the first two-time First Team NEC All-Conference performers since current assistant coach Eric Taylor did so during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons.
 
Krimmel wins Coach of the Year after engineering one of the top turnarounds in the country over the last five seasons. SFU has won 16 or more games in each of the last three seasons for the first time in 50 years. SFU's 24 league wins since the start of the 2017-18 season are the most in program history over a two-year span.
 
Saint Francis went on an eight-game win streak after starting 3-4 in NEC play and won 9 of its final 11 games.
 
The Red Flash host #8 Bryant on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Krimmel is 4-5 in the NEC Tournament and 3-2 in NEC Quarterfinals. He will pass Jim Barron for most NEC Tournament wins in school history with a win over the Bulldogs.