DaytonDailyNews.com

After a thrilling season full of last-second heroics, which culminated in a Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship and the program's 17th NCAA Tournament appearance, Miami University's men's basketball team gathered Tuesday evening to celebrate their championship season at the annual postseason banquet.

The awards portion of the evening tipped off with two new awards created by the Miami University Sixth Man Club. Members Chris Carsten and Greg and Becky Martin were named the Sixth Man Club Co-Members of the Year, while senior guard Doug Penno was tabbed the Sixth Man of the Year for his efforts throughout the season.

Junior forward Tim Pollitz and sophomore guard Michael Bramos were recognized for capturing MAC All-Tournament Team honors — with Pollitz being named the MAC Tournament MVP — while Pollitz and senior forward Nathan Peavy were honored for earning First-Team All-MAC and Honorable Mention All-MAC recognition, respectively.

Pollitz, Peavy and Bramos also were recognized for their MAC East Division Player of the Week honors throughout the season.

Tim Pollitz was voted the RedHawks' William Rohr Most Valuable Player. Pollitz ranked second among MAC statistical leaders in MAC-only games in field goal percentage (.629 ) and third in points (18.1 ppg), while amassing 20 or more points 10 times over the final 16 games of the season.

Pollitz set a Miami single-game field goal percentage record in the MAC Tournament Semifinals against Toledo, going 11-of-12 from the field (.917). Against Oregon in the NCAA Tournament, Pollitz led all scorers with 21 points, while shooting .727 from the field en route to Chevrolet Player of the Game accolades.

Bramos earned the Richard Shrider Defensive Player of the Year Award and was awarded the Dr. Terry Hunt Free Throw Award along with Penno. With a team-leading 41 blocked shots, which ranked seventh on Miami's single-season list, Bramos helped Miami to a team single-season record for blocked shots (132) and ranked fifth among MAC statistical leaders. He led the team in steals (46) to rank 11th among MAC statistical leaders. Bramos also ranked among MAC leaders in free-throw percentage, knocking down 84-of-101 free-throw attempts (.832).

Penno recorded a team-high .853 free-throw percentage, nailing 29-of-34 attempts on the season en route to the Dr. Terry Hunt Free Throw Award. Penno also was the Holdie Wilson Spirit Award recipient, which is given to a player who best demonstrates an unconditionally positive spirit.

For the second consecutive year, Peavy was honored as the team's top rebounder. He led the team in rebounding and ranked eighth among MAC statistical leaders, averaging 6.3 per game for the season, and also ranked seventh in defensive rebounds.

Senior center Monty St. Clair took home the Marshall North Award, which is presented to the player who best exemplifies the virtue of loyalty to the University, team and coaches, and whose personal sacrifice of time, effort and energy contribute to the advancement of the record of the team.

Redshirt freshman center Adam Fletcher was honored as the team's Jamie Mercurio Award recipient, which is given to the player who exemplifies courage, determination and perseverance.

Sophomore guard Eric Pollitz was tabbed the team's Darrell Hedric Most Improved Player. Primarily coming off the bench at the point guard position, Pollitz played in 31 of Miami's 33 games, making one start.

After playing in all 33 games and making 29 starts, freshman point guard Alex Moosmann was named the Arthur and Olga Adkins Freshman of the Year. Moosmann averaged 25.6 minutes of action per game and led the team in assists with 91, which earned him the team's Most Assists Award.

Sophomore forward Chad James was honored as the Randy Gunlock Scholar-Athlete of the Year. James owns a 3.51 GPA while majoring in business.

Miami finished the season with an 18-15 overall record. Boasting a stifling defense as its calling card, Miami was the only Division I program to hold every opponent under 70 points in 2006-07.