Robert Morris guard Tony Lee yesterday was voted Northeast Conference Player of the Year and the Colonials' Mike Rice was chosen NEC Coach of the Year in balloting done by the league's coaches.

Lee, also named to the all-NEC first team, is the first Colonial to win the award since Myron Walker in 1992.

Lee, a 6-foot senior, averages 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He ranks fifth in the country in steals (2.8 per game) and 10th in assists (6.4 per game).

"I'm thrilled for Tony," Rice said.

"He's one of the most complete basketball players that you're going to find in Division I. It's a credit to him and his work ethic."

Mark Schmidt, the former Robert Morris coach now at St. Bonaventure, recruited Lee out of Charlestown High School in Boston.

"He epitomizes what hard work can do," Schmidt said. "He made himself a player through sheer will -- sheer will."

"Robert Morris has been good to me since my freshman year," Lee said. "Robert Morris has helped me a ton. And I've been good to Robert Morris.

"When it's all said and done, I will look at coach Rice and say, 'Thank you.' And I'll also call coach Schmidt and say thank you to him for giving me this opportunity.

"And when it's all said and done, I can look at Robert Morris and say, 'Thank you. ' "

"He's an exceptional basketball player," Long Island coach Jim Ferry said of Lee. "He's one of those kids who really does everything. He's really a special player."

"Tony's a great player," said senior A.J. Jackson, who was joined on the all-NEC second team by Robert Morris junior Jeremy Chappell. "We've been together for four years. He's a tremendous player, rebounds the ball, passes the ball. He's the most unselfish player we have.

"He's our leader and our captain. He'll grab us together and tell us, 'We need to do this, we need to do that,' and we go out and execute."

"To get this personal accolade feels good," Lee said, "but it wouldn't have happened without the help of my teammates and coaches. They helped me became a better player throughout the season, so there's no doubt this wouldn't have happened without them.

"I'll probably sit back and think about it after the season is over, but right now we need to concentrate on the NEC tournament."

Rice, an assistant coach at Pitt last season, is the first Colonials coach to win the coach award since Jarrett Durham won in 1989 and '90.

"When you come into your first head coaching job, there are a lot of things you think about -- winning your first game to recruiting good players to how your players are doing academically.

"This award is a product of having good players and having good assistant coaches."