Sioux City, Iowa – Ty Hoglund of Dakota Wesleyan University has been selected as the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year and headlines the GPAC Basketball All-Conference Teams for 2019-20. Hoglund, a senior, averaged 23.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for the Tigers who finished the regular season with a record of 21-8 overall and 13-7 in conference play.
Other GPAC basketball honorees for 2019-20 include: Defensive Player-of-the-Year Tyler Borchers of Morningside; Freshman-of-the-Year Mason Walters of the University of Jamestown; and the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach-of-the-Year Jim Sykes of Morningside. The GPAC Basketball honors are selected by the league’s 11 head coaches.
Trent Hilbrands was named to the 10-player first team for the second consecutive season. Hilbrands ranks fifth in the GPAC in scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game, to go with 3.2 rebounds and 74 assists. The junior guard has made 87 three-pointers, fifth best in the GPAC, shooting 44% from beyond the arc. Hilbrands has scored in double figures in 26 games this season and became the newest Red Raider player to score 1,000 points in a career.
“Trent has a knack for scoring the basketball,” comments Head Coach Kris Korver. “He is a strong guard who can get going downhill and attack as well as shoot it from deep. Trent’s teammates do a tremendous job of getting him the ball in places that he can be effective.”
Jay Small clamed second team accolades after earning honorable mention honors as a sophomore. Small is second on the team in scoring (14.6ppg) and averages a team-high 6.5 rebounds per contest, ninth best in the conference. He ranks seventh in the GPAC with 84 three-pointers and has a team-leading six double-doubles. Small has scored in double figures in 24 games and has seven 20+ point games this season.
“Jay is an explosive player who can score in bunches,” said Korver. “He is a strong, athletic player who can guard multiple positions and is also a very good rebounder.”
Two Red Raiders, Craig Sterk and Grant Rohrer, received honorable mention honors. Sterk is third on the team in scoring (14.2) and has 24 games with 10+ points this season. The athletic big man is shooting 55% from the field, has made 40 three-pointers and ranks fourth in the league with 32 blocked shots. Sterk earns the postseason honor for the second time. Rohrer has had his most productive season as a Red Raider, scoring 10.7 points per game to go with 4.6 boards per contest. The senior is shooting an impressive 67% from the field and has scored in double figures in 12 games.
“Craig and Grant provided a strong presence in the post for us,” said Korver. “Although their games are different, both proved to be very effective. We needed them to play well this season and they stepped up in a big way.”
Head Coach Kris Korver’s squad has a 20-11 overall record and will find out its first round opponent for the upcoming NAIA D-II National Championship later today.
Garrett Franken (Junior; Atlantic, Iowa), Jesse Jansma (Junior; Sioux Center, Iowa), Cade Bleeker (Freshman; Sioux Center, Iowa) and Marcus Winterfeld (Junior; Sioux Center, Iowa) all claimed honors.
Franken was named to the first-team after averaging 15.9 points per game with 7.5 rebounds and he converted 47.4 percent of his field goals while helping the Defenders to a 22-9 record and a second place finish in the GPAC. Franken was a second-team pick in 2018-19.
Jansma and Bleeker were named to the second-team with Jansma averaging 12.3 points per game to go with 3.0 rebounds and he handed out a team high 2.4 assists per game this season while converting 53 three-point shots. Bleeker averaged 10.2 points per game with 4.1 rebounds per game and converted 48.3 percent of his field goals and 45.1 percent of his three-point shots while making a team high 64 three-point baskets. Bleeker is the only freshman on either the GPAC’s first or second-teams.
Winterfeld came off the bench in all 31 games and averaged 9.4 points per game while making 55 percent of his field goals and 83 percent of his free throws. He also averaged 2.8 rebounds per game while earning honorable mention. Winterfeld was a second-team pick in 2017-18 and missed most of the 2018-19 season with injury.
The Defenders posted a 22-8 overall regular season record and a 13-7 GPAC record while finishing second in the league.
Former Orab Jaden Kleinhesselink earned honorable mention accolades for the second year in a row.
For the Complete First and Second Teams along with Honorable Mention selections view the release below:
2019-20 GPAC Men’s Basketball All-Conference Honors
