St. Joseph Post
The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State men's basketball team continues to reap the rewards of winning eight straight MIAA regular season titles.
The Bearcats took home three of the four men's basketball specialty awards and landed four players on the all-league teams.
Junior Trevor Hudgins (Player of the Year, First Team All-MIAA), senior Ryan Hawkins (First Team All-MIAA, All-Defensive Team), junior Diego Bernard (Defensive Player of the Year, Second Team All-MIAA, All-Defensive Team), sophomore Luke Waters (Honorable Mention All-MIAA and head coach Ben McCollum (MIAA Coach of the Year) collected conference accolades following a vote of the league's coaches.
Ben McCollum secured his seventh MIAA Coach of the Year Award after leading the Bearcats to their eighth consecutive MIAA regular season title.
Northwest produced an MIAA single-season record 21 league wins this season. McCollum has guided the Bearcats to 10 consecutive 20-win seasons, including a mark of 90-2 over the past three years, and a career record of 293-77.
For the sixth straight season, the MIAA Player of the Year is a Bearcat. Junior Trevor Hudgins captured back-to-back MIAA Player of the Year honors, and secured first-team all-MIAA status for the second straight season.
Hudgins averaged 19.2 points per game and shot 53.9 percent from the floor and 52.8 percent from three-point range. He dished out 111 assists (5.0/game) and has a 3.16 career assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks No. 2 among all NCAA men's basketball players.
Diego Bernard, a Lafayette St. Joseph alum, was named the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year Wednesday.
Bernard also moved up to second-team all-MIAA status and tallied his third straight appearance on the MIAA's all-Defensive squad. Bernard averaged 12.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.6 blocks this season.
Hawkins earned first-team all-MIAA honors for the second straight season. He also landed a spot on the MIAA's all-Defensive squad for the third straight year.
Hawkins averaged 21.4 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 1.8 steals per game. Hawkins shot 53.8% from the field, including 44.4% from three-point range.
Sophomore Luke Waters earned honorable mention all-MIAA honors for the first time in his collegiate career, averaging 9.7 points and shooting 58.5 percent from the field.
Waters buried 25 three-pointers and shot 42.4% from beyond the three-point arc.
Northwest starts its defense of the MIAA Tournament title Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. against Emporia State in Bearcat Arena. Northwest has captured five straight MIAA Tournament championships.
**Missouri Western men's honors**
Four Missouri Western men's basketball players were honored by the conference.
Griffon junior Tyrell Carroll is on the All-MIAA Second Team and he's also on the All-Defensive Team, while junior Caleb Bennett, sophomore Will Eames and sophomore Reese Glover have been named honorable mention All-MIAA. The four players honored by the league are tied for the most of any team with Northwest Missouri State.
This the third straight season Carroll has been honored by the MIAA. He was honorable mention as a freshman and was named First-Team as a sophomore.
Carroll averaged 18.5 points per game. He finished sixth in the MIAA in scoring, was fifth in assists (4.7) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9). Carroll led the MIAA in free throws made (107), and he was one of the best defenders in the league this season, averaging 2.6 steals per game to lead the MIAA.
Carroll is also moving up the MWSU all-time lists. He's now seventh in Griffon history in scoring (1348), third in assists (372), sixth in free throws made (305), fifth in free throws attempted (434), and he's first in steals since 1999 with 148.
Bennett earned all-conference honors in his first year in a Griffon uniform after redshirting last season. The St. Joseph native averaged 11.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Bennett was 10th in the MIAA in steals this season at 1.5 per game and helped MWSU lead the league in steals and turnovers forced.
This is the second straight year Eames has earned honorable mention all-league honors, as he was also the MIAA Freshman of the Year last season. The sophomore from Lee's Summit averaged 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game this season.
Eames finished fourth in the MIAA in rebounding and had the third most defensive rebounds. He had seven double-doubles this season, which is fourth most in the league and 14th in the nation. Eames had 12 games during the regular season with nine or more rebounds.
This is the first all-MIAA honor for Glover as he averaged 11.7 points per game and shot 40.5 percent from the three-point line this season. Glover led the MIAA and the NCAA in three-point field goals made (68) and three-point field goals per game (3.24).
**Northwest Missouri State women's honors**
Northwest Missouri State freshman guard Molly Hartnett and senior guard Mallory McConkey were recognized by the MIAA Wednesday.
Hartnett received the MIAA Freshman of the Year award and was voted All-MIAA Honorable Mention after her breakout season, leading the team in scoring with 14.0 points per game, pulling down 4.0 rebounds per game, recording a team-high 59 assists and tallying 14 steals.
She also led the team and was fifth in the MIAA with 86 made free throws on 112 attempts, shooting 76.8% from the line. Hartnett finishes her freshman campaign with 309 points while shooting 38.9% from the floor.
McConkey was recognized as All-MIAA Honorable Mention for the second straight year. McConkey scored 7.3 points per game while recording 5.6 rebounds per contest.
She also tallied 42 assists along with 15 steals and 13 blocks.
McConkey also led the team in shooting percentage, hitting 40.5% of her shots from the floor while going 18-for-23 from the free throw line for 78.3%.
No members of the Missouri Western women's team were recognized.