For the first time in five years, basketball held court at the Laurentian Voyageurs year-end athletic banquet.

Basketball standouts Emilie Lafond and Nginyu Ngala walked away with the top honours of the evening, recognized as Female and Male Athlete of the Year, the first hardcourt sweep of these awards since 2019-2020 (Kadre Gray; Hélèna Lamoureux).

A fourth year Health Promotions major from Hanmer, Lafond enjoyed a breakthrough season, netting 156 field goals (2nd in OUA), 95 free throws (4th) and finishing third overall in league scoring (18.5 points per game).

A transfer MBA student from the Dalhousie Tigers (AUS), Ngala was the only Laurentian men's player to start in all 22 games, registering a 327 point season that featured 60 baskets from beyond the arc.

His versatility was front and centre with impressive stats in both the rebounds (101) and assists (69) as the Montreal native garnered third team all-star accolades.

Porcupine native Cadence Pecore (basketball) was named Female Rookie of the Year while the same hardware on the men's side was shared between Philippe Fandio (basketball) and Olly Sankar (soccer).

Leading his team to the first playoff win at L.U. wince the 2019-2020 campaign in just his second year at the helm of the men's basketball program, Brandon Edwards was deservedly selected as Coach of the Year.

The prestigious Voyageur Award was doled out to graduating cross-country and indoor track star Keon Wallingford. A two-time participant at the U Sports Cross Country Championships and top ten finisher multiple times at the OUA Indoor Track & Field Championships, Wallingford twice broke the school's 50-year record at the 3000m distance.

The North Bay native whose father (Darcy) swam at Laurentian graduates this summer as a four-time Academic All-Canadian, well recognized for his volunteer involvement in both Sudbury and North Bay.

The Pride and Tradition team honours were distributed as follows:

Baseball: Ryan Lacasse
Men's Basketball: Pierre Mukandila
Women's Basketball: Aneisha Rismond
Men's Cross Country: Keon Wallingford
Women's Cross Country: Angela Mozzon
Men's Curling: Olivier Bonin-Ducharme
Women's Curling: Dayna Wahl
Men's Golf: Alex Fowke
Women's Golf: Vanessa Paterson
Men's Indoor Track: Keon Wallingford
Women's Indoor Track: Alissa Diavolitsis
Men's Nordic Skiing: Cormac Adams
Women's Nordic Skiing: Margot West
Men's Soccer: Daniel Alexa
Women's Soccer: Hunter Jones