The fans at John J. Lee Amphitheater were treated to stellar play from forward Justin Sears ’16 and guard Javier Duren ’15 all season long. On Wednesday, those Bulldog ballers were honored by the Ancient Eight for their strong seasons.

Sears was the only underclassman named to the all-Ivy First Team, and Duren was Honorable Mention all-Ivy. The two helped Yale (15–13, 9–5 Ivy) to a second-place finish, the Bulldogs’ highest finish in the Ivy League since coming in second behind Penn in the 2006-’07 season.

Sears had a monster sophomore season, averaging 17.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per game on the season. In Ivy League play, Sears was even more dominant, as he finished tied for first in conference points per game (19.5), led the Ancient Eight with 7.9 rebounds per conference game and finished second to Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Cedric Kuakumensah from Brown with 2.0 blocks per game. Sears earned at least a share of the Ivy League Player of the Week award five times during the season, while 2013-’14 Ivy League Player of the Year Wesley Saunders of Harvard only earned the weekly award twice.

Duren ran the point for Yale this season, orchestrating the offense while averaging 12.4 points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Saunders, also a member of the all-Ivy First Team, was one of six Cantabs to make an all-Ivy squad.

The lone Bulldog to be named the Ivy League Player of the Year since the award’s inception after the 1974-’75 season is forward Paul Maley ’88, who won the award following the 1987-’88 season.