Baruch College men’s basketball head coach John Alesi was named Eastern College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for the 2018-2019 season. Alesi led the Bearcats to the CUNYAC regular season and tournament championship, while also extending the team’s undefeated streak at the ARC Arena.

“I am honored to be recognized by an outstanding organization in the ECAC,” Alesi told The Ticker. “I’ve learned that these awards do not happen without two things; outstanding assistant coaches and very good players. I am tremendously fortunate to have both and I consider this to be a shared award with them.”

Alesi was the subject of widespread attention after he drew up the game-winning buzzer beating play in the CUNYAC Championship. The play, which famously involved the players running routes like a football play before Benjamin Boateng hit the shot with 0.2 seconds left, went viral.

Media outlets such as Yahoo Sports, Barstool Sports and The Washington Post retweeted or wrote articles about the play. However, while the miracle play is perhaps what the season will be most remembered for, Alesi’s Bearcats were potent on both sides of the ball all year long.

Within all of Division III basketball, the Bearcats held opponents to 38.6 percent shooting — good for third best — and gave up the sixth-least amount of points per game, giving up just 62.6 points per game.

Offensively, the team scored 73.3 points per game, good for a scoring margin of 10.7 points. The team also finished 13-2 in CUNYAC play, finishing with a 22-6 overall record.