PRINCETON, N.J. – Former William Paterson men's basketball standout Abdoulaye Ouedraogo (Newark, N.J./Newark Science) was honored with the New Jersey Athletic Conference's top individual accolade when he was presented with the Male Athlete of the Year award June 6.

A senior this past winter, Ouedraogo was a 2009-10 second-team National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-American, the NJAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the NABC All-Atlantic Region First Team, All-Metropolitan Basketball Coaches Association First Team, All-NJAC First Team, D3hoops.com All-Atlantic Region Second Team and ECAC All-Metro Region First Team. He led the Pioneers with a .527 field-goal percentage (seventh in NJAC), 7.4 rebounds (sixth in conference) and 2.1 blocked shots (second in league, 36th in Division III) per game, adding 10.0 points per contest to rank second for the Pioneers. Ouedraogo competed in the inaugural NABC Division III Senior All-Star Game at the NCAA Tournament's Final Four in Salem, Va.

Previously named the 2007-08 NJAC Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-NJAC First Team, the D3hoops.com All-Atlantic Region Second Team, the NABC All-Atlantic Second Team, the ECAC Metro Region All-Second Team and the PrestoSports/Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Division III All-Third Team, he registered 13 double-digit scoring totals, four double-figure rebounding games and three double-doubles this past season. Selected to the 2009-10 NJAC All-Academic Honorable Mention Team and the 2007-08 NJAC All-Academic Second Team, he completed a bachelor of arts degree in sociology last month.

Ouedraogo joined former William Paterson field hockey and softball standout Diane Naugle, who claimed the NJAC Female Athlete of the Year Award in 2000-01, as the only Pioneer athletes to ever win the NJAC's top honor. The 2009-10 NJAC Female Athlete of the Year was Kean women's basketball all-American Melissa Beyruti.