NEW YORK | Yeshiva’s Zevi Samet headlines the 2024-25 Skyline Conference all-conference team as he leads the Maccabees into the postseason today as the No. 3 seed in the field.
In voting conducted by the 12 Skyline head coaches, the junior guard follows up his two-time First Team selections with a third in 2025, adding Player of the Year to a trophy case that already includes a Rookie of the Year award from 2023.
The unquestioned leader of the team’s offensive attack, Samet (below) averaged 21 points while shooting .453 from the field and .398 from 3 in regular-season play. He also averaged 4.3 rebounds per game while doling out 64 assists and swiping 30 steals for YU. A three-time Skyline Player of the Week, he one-upped a 2023-24 season that included selections to the All-MBWA First-Team, NABC Second-Team All-District honors, D3hoops.com First-Team All-Region as well as being named a member of the NABC 2023-24 Honors Court – all honors he is expected to repeat or improve on in 2025. He was later a finalist for the Josten’s Trophy after becoming the fastest Maccabee in history to join the 1,000-point club last season. Add in a stellar junior campaign in 2024-25 and Samet now has 1,697 career points for YU.
Meantime, the top defensive player comes by way of No. 1 and two-time defending champion Farmingdale State. That honor goes to pesky guard Jevon Santos. To boot, Maritime’s newcomer Jake Devaney locked up the Rookie of the Year award with an unheralded freshman campaign, while a familiar face in Chris Ehmer was named Skyline Coach of the Year in voting conducted by his peers after leading Sarah Lawrence to the No. 2 seed in the field.
Santos (below), a four-year starting point guard, ranks in top-100 nationally in steals (64th), steals per game (76th) and asst:TO ratio (85th). The team captain is the Skyline leader in steals and steals per game, while ranking second and third in asst:TO and assists/gm., respectively. He drew 22 charges from the point guard position on a defense that ranks 29th nationally in FG pct., and 35th in scoring average (Skyline-best). Santos is the program career leader in starts (109) and assists (468), and joins Samet and Devaney on the First Team.
Devaney (below) was recognized nine times as the Skyline Rookie of the Week this season. The last of which came two weeks ago after averaging 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 54.2 percent from the field in the Privateers' games at Yeshiva and Farmingdale State. Devaney leads playoff-bound Maritime in scoring, rebounding and blocks, and ranks among the top six in the conference in all three categories, as well as field goal percentage. His nine Rookie of the Week selections are believed to be a single-season Skyline record.
Ehmer (below) wins his second Skyline Coach of the Year as the Gryphons enjoyed a banner regular season, going 17-8 overall and 13-3 in Skyline play, securing the second seed in the tournament. He previously won the honor in 2018-19.
Ehmer joined Sarah Lawrence as the men's basketball head coach and assistant director of athletics in October 2012. He was promoted to associate director of athletics prior to the 2015-16 academic year. The last two seasons for SLC are among the best in history.
Under Ehmer’s guidance, the Gryphons reached the Skyline semifinals in 2024 against eventual champion Farmingdale State. They finished the season 14-13 overall and 10-6 in conference play, the program's second-best conference record and the most overall wins (tied with 2018-19) in program history until this record-breaking campaign in 2024-25.
Ehmer is a 2006 graduate of Washington (Md.) College. While an undergraduate student, he served as student-assistant basketball coach for the Shoremen, directing the Washington junior varsity team. The Bloomsburg, Pa., native came to Sarah Lawrence by way of Kenyon College, where he was the men’s basketball assistant coach.
The First Team is complete with three other playoff-bound stars in Purchase’s Rashid Nikiema, St. Joseph’s-Long Island’s Alec Tabada and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s
Drew Zalescik.
The Second Team consists of SLC’s Eamon Kelly, Maritime’s Jake Murphy, FSC’s Michael Notias, Manhattanville’s Andrew Saint-Louis and Yeshiva’s Max Zakheim.
The head coaches also announced their respective recipients for the All-Sportsmanship Team. The conference recognizes All-Sportsmanship Team members in all 19 of its championship sports, with each program announcing one recipient for his or her sportsmanlike demeanor – both in and out of competition.
Below is the 2024-25 Skyline Conference Men's Basketball All-Conference Team:
First Team
Jake Devaney, Maritime (Fr., F; Washingtonville, N.Y.)
Rashid Nikiema, Purchase (Jr., F; Winooski, Vt.)
Zevi Samet, Yeshiva (Sr., G; Monsey, N.Y.)
Jevon Santos, Farmingdale State (Sr., G; Elmont, N.Y.)
Alec Tabada, St. Joseph’s-Long Island (Sr., F; North Babylon, N.Y.)
Drew Zalescik, USMMA (Sr., G; Lambertville, N.J.)
Second Team
Eamon Kelly, Sarah Lawrence (Jr., G; New Orleans, La.)
Jake Murphy, Maritime (Gr., G; Rockville Centre, N.Y.)
Michael Notias, Farmingdale State (Jr., G; Manhasset, N.Y.)
Andrew Saint-Louis, Manhattanville (Sr., G; Norwalk, Conn.)
Max Zakheim, Yeshiva (Sr., G; Bergenfield, N.J.)
Player of the Year: Zevi Samet, Yeshiva
Defensive Player of the Year: Jevon Santos, Farmingdale State
Rookie of the Year: Jake Devaney, Maritime
Coach of the Year: Chris Ehmer, Sarah Lawrence (13th Season)
All-Sportsmanship Team
Jovayne Walters, Farmingdale State
Jack Scanlon, Manhattanville
Chris Zaveckas, Maritime
Talsen Smith, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Matt Monaco, Mount Saint Mary
Gerard Novello, Mount Saint Vincent
Amadi Lee-Kane, Old Westbury
Mahir Ahmed, Purchase
Aidan Morel, Sarah Lawrence
Noah Gray, St. Joseph's-Brooklyn
Ryan McNeely, St. Joseph's-Long Island
Effy Freundlich, Yeshiva