Kellen Tynes often steals the show for the University of Maine men’s basketball team, sometimes in a literal way.

The graduate student guard has the second highest number of steals in the entire country this season, and set the UMaine men’s record for all-time steals in February during just his third season with the Black Bears. And now for the third straight season, Tynes has been named the America East Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Tynes is only the second player in conference history to win the award three times in a row.

Those steals haven’t just meant records and awards for Tynes — they’ve meant wins for UMaine. Take the team’s final regular season game against UMass Lowell on Tuesday, for example. Tynes nabbed eight steals in that single game, including a pivotal one at the end of the game to help seal the win.

UMaine men’s basketball coach Chris Markwood didn’t mince words when asked about Tynes before practice on Thursday.

“He’s the best defender I’ve ever coached,” Markwood said.

Tynes and Markwood both spoke about the guard’s game-changing defense after he broke the program’s career steals record in February.

“He’s just unique,” Markwood said at the time. “He’s lightning quick, he’s got great hand-eye coordination, and he’s got really high basketball IQ. So when you combine the natural, physical traits with the basketball mind, he’s just got a knack for the ball. He always has since I watched him in high school. It’s a really unique skill, unique talent, and he’s able to kind of disrupt it on that side of the basketball with those traits.”

Tynes is third on the team in scoring and second in assists. He helps lead UMaine on both ends of the court, but there is little doubt that his defense has been a critical piece of the Black Bears’ ability to secure their first home playoff game in 30 years.

“I was always taught you can kind of change the game with your defense, so that’s what I try to go out there and do,” Tynes said after he broke the UMaine steals record.

He explained his defensive approach a little bit more after his big defensive performance, and big steal to help close things out, against UMass Lowell earlier this week.

“I think a lot of it is just instincts, knowing certain things,” Tynes said. “I think if you mix knowing the [scouting report], knowing personnel, with some of the stuff I have like long arms, being fast, that’s kind of where it comes from.”

In addition to being named defensive player of the year, Tynes was also named to the America East All-Defensive Team and the All-Conference Second Team.

Tynes had 97 steals in the regular season this year and averaged over three steals per game. He now has over 250 steals during his career in Orono. One of the UMaine legends he passed on that all-time steals list, former player and former assistant coach Kevin Reed, has been proud to watch Tynes make history.

“Records are made to be broken. I think anybody who’s played at UMaine sets a record and hopes that one day, someone better than them comes along,” Reed said in February. “Because if someone better than them comes along, then that’s a good sign for the program.”

Tynes and the UMaine men’s program will host UMass Lowell again at 6 p.m. Saturday night for the team’s first home playoff game since 1995.