INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 7, 2014) - On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that Molloy College senior forward
John Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y.) finished the 2013-14 men's basketball season as the National Statistical Champion for steals per game. Petrucelli averaged 3.6 steals per contest to lead the country amongst NCAA Division II.
This latest laurel caps off a postseason that was chock-full of impressive accolades for the Hicksville product. In the April 2014 edition of the Division II Bulletin, which serves as The Monthly Newsletter of Division II Men's Basketball, Petrucelli was selected to the Honorable Mention group on the All-America List. This is Petrucelli's eighth end-of-the-season honor as he was previously named the All-Met Division II Men's College Basketball Player of the Year, selected to the All-Met Division II First Team, tabbed to the All-East Coast Conference First Team, selected as the ECC Player of the Year, tabbed to the All-ECC Postseason Tournament Team, named to the Daktronics All-East Region Second Team, and picked to the NABC All-East District Second Team.
Petrucelli has been tabbed to four All-ECC squads in his career. In 30 games this season, Petrucelli poured in a conference-leading 23.1 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting. His scoring prowess, which ranked eighth in all of NCAA Division II, led to him eclipsing the Molloy program record for points earlier this season. He finished with 2,011 points for his career -- the first Molloy player to ever eclipse 2,000 all as a Lion. The Hicksville product finished with 692 points this campaign, which was good for sixth in the country. He ranked in the top 10 in the conference in nine different categories, including: minutes per game (36.3), rebounds (230), and steals (108).
He also broke several other program records, including: points in a single game (39 vs. Bridgeport on December 11, 2013), points in a single season (692), made field goals in a single season (243), points per game in a single season (23.1), made field goals in a game (16 vs. UDC on Jan. 15, 2014), steals in a single season (108) and steals per game in a single season (3.6).
