This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

March 5, 2019KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Bearcats sweep 2018-19 MIAA Basketball Awards

Joey Witthus was named MIAA Player of the Year on Tuesday afternoon (Photo courtesy Northwest Athletics)

Northwest Missouri State men's basketball is seeing the rewards of a perfect regular season.

The Bearcats reeled in each of the MIAA's specialty awards, and placed the entire starting five on the All-MIAA team.

Senior Joey Witthus was named MIAA Player of the Year. It's just the ninth time in program history that the league's MVP came from Northwest.

Trevor Hudgins received MIAA Freshman of the Year honors, the first Bearcat since Justin Pitts in 2015 to receive the award.

Sophomore Ryan Hawkins is the conference's defensive player of the year, and he was joined on the MIAA's all-defensive team by freshman Diego Bernard.

Ben McCollum was named coach of the year for the fifth time in his career after leading Northwest to a 29-0 regular season and 19-0 MIAA record.

The All-MIAA First Team included Witthus and Hudgins, Hawkins landed on the second team, and Bernard and Welty were honorable mention.

The full all-conference teams and awards are below.

2018-19 MIAA Men’s Basketball Postseason Awards
Player of the Year - Joey Witthus - Northwest Missouri, Senior
Defensive Player of the Year - Ryan Hawkins, - Northwest Missouri, Sophomore
Freshman of the Year - Trevor Hudgins - Northwest Missouri
Coach of the Year - Ben McCollum - Northwest Missouri

2019 Men’s Basketball All-MIAA Teams
First-Team
Brady Werth - Fort Hays State, Senior
Cam Martin - Missouri Southern, Sophomore
Trevor Hudgins - Northwest Missouri - Freshman
Joey Witthus - Northwest Missouri - Senior
Javion Blake - Washburn - Senior

Second-Team
Adarius Avery - Central Oklahoma, Senior
Terrance Smith - Lincoln, Senior
Brad Newman - Lindenwood, Senior
Lavon Hightower - Missouri Western, Senior
Ryan Hawkins - Northwest Missouri, Sophomore

Third-Team
Elyjah Clark - Missouri Southern, Junior
Calen Smith - Northeastern State, Junior
Donovan Franklin - Pittsburg State, Senior
Grant Lozoya - Pittsburg State, Senior
Karim Mouliom - Southwest Baptist, Senior

All-Defensive Team
Diego Bernard - Northwest Missouri, Freshman
Ryan Hawkins - Northwest Missouri, Sophomore
Jonell Burton - Lincoln, Junior
Karim Mouliom - Southwest Baptist, Senior
David Salach - Washburn, Senior

Honorable Mentions
Central MissouriDaniel Farris - Sophomore, Jafar Kinsey - Senior, Jacob Lowrance - Senior
Emporia State: Kooper Glick - Senior, Julius Jackson - Senior
Fort Hays State: Marcus Cooper - Senior, Kyler Kinnamon - Senior
LincolnJonell Burton - Junior, Amariontez Ivory - Senior, Grant Olsson - Senior
Lindenwood: Chandler Diekvoss - Senior, TJ Crockett - Sophomore
Missouri Southern: Kinzer Lambert - Junior, Braelon Walker - Junior
Missouri WesternTyrell Carroll - Freshman, Bryan Hudson - Senior
Nebraska Kearney: AJ Jackson - Junior, Kanon Koster - Freshman
Northeastern State: Josh Ihek - Junior
Northwest MissouriDiego Bernard - Freshman, Ryan Welty - Junior
Washburn: Tyler Geiman - Sophomore, David Salach - Senior
Includes Honorable Mentions For All-Defensive Teams