SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – First-year Tanner Tedesco added to his growing list of accolades by earning D3hoops.com Region 3 Rookie of the Year honors, the website announced on Tuesday.
 
Tedesco is the first player in program history to earn Regional Rookie of the Year honors from D3hoops.com and is the first to be honored outside the conference since Dave Musella '02 was tabbed as the ECAC Upstate New York Rookie of the Year in 1998-99.
 
Tedesco was picked as the top rookie among all Region 3 schools, which include the Liberty League, Empire 8 Conference, SUNYAC and Skyline Conference as well as one team from the University Athletic Association.
 
The Voorheesville, N.Y., native was Union's top scorer and facilitator in his rookie season, averaging a team-best 10.6 points per game and dishing out 5.1 assists per game to go with 3.8 caroms per contest. He made an immediate impact by earning Most Valuable Player honors at the Sig Makofski Invitational in November and was a two-time conference weekly honoree, earning one Player of the Week and one Rookie of the Week award. Tedesco averaged a team-leading 30.2 minutes per game in 25 contests (24 starts), while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from long range on the year. His 127 assists are ninth-most in a season in program history and surpassed current head coach Chris Murphy '06 for the most assists by a first-year ever at Union. He scored a season-high 20 points on three occasions and netted double figures in 13 games this year.
 
"I'm so pleased that Tanner was honored as the D3Hoops.com Region 3 Rookie of the Year," said head coach Chris Murphy. "Tanner's competitive nature and work ethic allowed him to thrive despite the many obstacles that a first-year starting point guard faces throughout a season. He does so many things well, including defending, passing and scoring, but the most important quality for him this year was his toughness. He embraces difficult challenges and is always looking for ways to improve. I look forward to seeing his continued growth and his impact on the basketball program at Union." 
 
The point guard paced the Liberty League in assists and assists per game this season, while his 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second best in the conference. He had two of the four highest assist totals in the Liberty League this season with 10 against both St. Lawrence University on February 10 and in the conference tournament against Rochester Institute of Technology on February 20, and had five games of eight assists or more when no other conference player had more than two.
 
Tedesco led a talented group of newcomers that accounted for over 60 percent of the team's points this season and finished as four of the squad's top-five scorers.