Lancaster, Pa. – (3/3/2026) – With the 2025-2026 Atlantic East Conference (AEC) Men's Basketball Championship decided, league commissioner Rebecca Mullen has officially released the members of the 2025-2026 All-AEC Men's Basketball Team and Major Award Winners. Gwynedd Mercy University senior guard D.J. Johnson (Norristown, Pa.) garnered All-AEC First Team honors and was recognized by the league's head coaches as the 2025-2026 AEC Defensive Player of the Year. Graduate guard Dylan Harris (Bloomsburg, Pa.) was recognized on the All-AEC Second Team.
 
Opposite Johnson, Neumann University senior forward Donte Dupriest (Philadelphia, Pa.) repeated as the AEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Johnson and Dupriest were joined on the All-AEC First Team by Neumann University senior guard D.J. Earl (Middletown, Del.), Centenary University (N.J.) junior guard/forward Kenneth Rankin (Ewing, N.J.), and Marymount University sophomore guard Anthoney McClary (Germantown, Md.). Meanwhile, Harris was joined on the All-AEC Second Team by Immaculata University fifth-year guard Dylan Crews (Philadelphia, Pa.), Marywood University senior guard Collin Himmelberg (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Saint Elizabeth University senior guard/forward Tye-Rell Monroe (Rio Rancho, N.M.), as well as Marymount University junior center C.J. Highsmith (Richmond, Va.) and junior guard Reuben McEachern (Richmond, Va.).
 
The 2025-2026 AEC Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year title went to Pratt Institute freshman forward Kurt Thomas (Dallas, Texas), while Centenary University (N.J.) Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris LaBelle and his staff – Nick LaBelle, Kyle O'Brien, and Tyler Clark – were honored as the 2025-2026 AEC Men's Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
Centenary University improved their AEC record from 5-7 in 2024-2025 to 9-5 in 2025-2026; congruently, the improvement also helped their postseason positioning as the Cyclones avoided the First Round of the AEC Championship Tournament with this year's third-place seeding. One Cyclone, junior guard/forward Kenneth Rankin (Ewing, N.J.) made the 2025-2026 All-AEC roster as he garnered a First Team slot with AEC Top-10 statistics in field goals made (2^nd, 158), points (3^rd, 425), defensive rebounds (3^rd, 122), field goal percentage (3^rd, .491 FG%; 158-of-322), points per game (3^rd, 16.3 PPG), free throws made (4^th, 93), rebounds (6^th, 145), and free throw percentage (7^th, .744 FT%; 93-of-125).
 
Thomas is Pratt Institute's second straight AEC Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year as sophomore guard Thomas Graetz (Sydney, Australia) received the award in 2024-2025. Thomas ranked among the AEC Top-10 in blocks (4^th, 24), blocks per game (5^th, 1.0 BPG), offensive rebounds (5^th, 44), free throws made (8^th, 79), field goals made (9^th, 119), and points (10^th, 331).
 
Dupriest earned his second straight AEC Player of the Year award with another impressive season for the Knights. He led the league in points (1^st, 535), field goals made (1^st, 209), FG% (1^st, .602; 209-of-347), rebounds (1^st, 289), rebounds per game (1^st, 10.7 RPG), offensive rebounds (1^st, 90) and defensive rebounds (1^st, 199).
 
Johnson led Gwynedd Mercy University with 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while totaling 86 assist (3.3/game), 67 steals (2.6/game), and nine blocks (0.3/game). He earned three Defensive Player of the Week awards (Nov. 10, Jan. 12., Feb. 16) and five Weekly Honor Roll appearances (Dec. 15, Jan. 5, Jan. 26, Feb. 9, Feb. 23) this season while ranking as the AEC league leader in steals (1^st, 67) and steals per game (1^st, 2.6 SPG). He also ranked among the AEC Top-10 in FT% (2^nd, .780; 85-of-109), assist to turnover ratio (2^nd, 2.2), assists (3^rd, 86), assists per game (3^rd, 3.3 APG), rebounds (5^th, 152), defensive rebounds (6^th, 115), free throws made (7^th, 84), points (8^th, 342), PPG (8^th, 13.7), and
RPG (T10th, 5.8)  
 
Harris pieced together one of the greatest shooting seasons in program history with a program-record 82 made three pointers (82-of-186, .441) and program-record 97.6 FT% (.976; 40-of-41). He led the AEC in three pointers made (1^st, 82), three-point percentage (1^st, .435 3PT%; 77-of-177), while also ranking among the Top-10 in steals (T8th, 39) and SPG (10^th, 1.5).
 
Gwynedd Mercy University sophomore guard Pat Bean (North Wildwood, N.J.) was recognized as the 2025-2026 AEC Men's Basketball Elite Scholar. The honor is presented at every AEC Championship to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average (GPA) competing at the finals site. Bean carries a 3.67 GPA as a criminal justice major. 
 
The complete 2025-2026 All-AEC Men's Basketball Team and Major Award Winners are listed below and available by using the provided links.
   
Player of the Year: Donte Dupriest, Neumann University
Defensive Player of the Year: D.J. Johnson, Gwynedd Mercy University
Rookie of the Year: Kurt Thomas, Pratt Institute
Coaching Staff of the Year: Centenary University (N.J.)
Elite Scholar Athlete: Pat Bean, Gwynedd Mercy University
 
First Team:
Donte Dupriest, Neumann University
D.J. Earl, Neumann University
D.J. Johnson, Gwynedd Mercy University
A.J. McClary, Marymount University
Kenneth Rankin, Centenary University (N.J.)
 
Second Team:
Dylan Crews, Immaculata University
Dylan Harris, Gwynedd Mercy University
C.J. Highsmith Jr., Marymount University
Collin Himmelberg, Marywood University
Reuben McEachern, Marymount University
Tye-Rell Monroe, Saint Elizabeth University