Masters Named BLG Award Finalist
VReds star nominee for U SPORTS male athlete of 2017-18
(FREDERICTON, NB) Javon Masters, who left U SPORTS basketball as the country’s all-time leading scorer, now has a chance to leave as the country’s top male university athlete for 2017-18 too.
The UNB Varsity Reds’ fifth-year point guard has been named as Atlantic University Sports’ male nominee for the 2018 BLG Awards.
“To be recognized this way, at a national level, is humbling” says Masters. “The prestige associated with the BLG Awards is incredible. As a nominee, they mark a culmination of all my hard work and dedication to my sport and education.”
Masters will join the AUS female nominee, Paloma Anderson, a point guard with the Acadia Axewomen, at the BLG Awards ceremony, in Vancouver, next month.
Masters dominated the 2017-18 AUS season.
He led the country in scoring, averaging 24.5 points per game.
He led the AUS with 466 points in a season where he established new conference and Canadian career scoring marks, was named the AUS MVP and a 1st Team All-Canadian, and led the Varsity Reds to their first AUS championship since 1967.
In April, Masters was named recipient of the James Downey Shield as UNB’s male athlete of the year.
“I’ve learned, through basketball, to never give up and that anything is possible once you put your mind to it,” says Masters. “Coming from behind in games, when losing seemed inevitable, has inspired me off the court in many circumstances.”
Masters’ selection as the AUS male nominee marks the third straight year that a Varsity Red has had that honour.
Hockey players Jordan Murray and Philippe Maillet were the AUS male BLG Award nominees in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Maillet won the award last year.
“For Javon to be recognized with the AUS nomination is incredible,” says John Richard, UNB’s Director of Athletics. “This is the third year in a row for a UNB student-athlete, which says a lot about our program. In putting a spotlight on Javon’s accomplishments, his teammates and our institution benefit from that recognition.”
Masters is nominated alongside University of Alberta Golden Bears quarterback Ed Ilnicki from Canada West, Laurentian University Voyageurs basketball player Kadre Grey from the OUA, and Concordia University Stingers wrestler Francis Carter from RSEQ.
“Throughout his career, he’s been a person who embraces and seizes the moment like no other,” says Varsity Reds head coach Brent Baker, currently on a leave of absence. “Whether it’s career accomplishments, which are many, or on game day, where he has had rarely a day off.”
The BLG Awards were established in 1993 by U SPORTS and national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, to recognize the top male and female university athletes in Canada.
This year’s BLG Awards will be presented on Monday, June 4th, in a ceremony at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts, in Vancouver, BC, as part of the U SPORTS Conference and Annual General Meeting.
The winners will be determined by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board chaired by Doug Mitchell, national co-chair of BLG.