Sioux City, Iowa – Mason Walters of the University of Jamestown 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 2020-21. Walters, a sophomore, averaged 21.7 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game for the Jimmies who finished the regular season with a record of 19-8 overall and 14-6 in conference play.
Other GPAC basketball honorees for 2020-21 include: Defensive Player-of-the-Year Zach Imig of Morningside; Freshman-of-the-Year Alex Van Kalsbeek of Northwestern College; 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.
Named to the first team from Dordt University was Garrett Franken and Jesse Jansma.
Franken claimed first-team honors for the second straight season after averaging a team high 15.0 points per game with 7.2 rebounds and he converted 47 percent of his field goals and averaged over two assists per game. Franken also claimed second-team honors at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season. He will graduate from Dordt with 1,322 career points and ranks 15th all-time and his 629 career rebounds ranks him 9th.
Jansma also earned first-team honors after converting 14.7 points per game and he handed out a team high 3.8 assists per game with 3.6 rebounds per outing. Jansma converted 43 three-point baskets and ends his career with1,338 career points and is 14th all-time at Dordt. He ranks 10th all-time in assists with 281 and is 5th all-time in made three-point baskets with 203. He was a second-team pick in 2019-20.
Northwestern’s first teamers include Trent Hilbrands and Alex Van Kalsbeek.
Van Kalsbeek averaged 20.9 points a game for the Red Raiders, shot .749 from the field and had 202 rebounds on the season. Hilbrands scores 16.3 points a game for Northwestern and shot .429 from long range.
Named to the second team was Briar Cliff’s Jaden Kleinhesselink, Northwestern’s Jay Small and Craig Sterk.
Kleinhesselink, a junior from Sheldon, Iowa, led the Chargers in scoring at 14.0 points per game and was second with 74 assists. He reached the 20 point mark in five games, putting up a season high 31 points in a win over Hastings. He tallied one double double when he scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds against Bellevue. This is Kleinhesselink’s third time making the all-GPAC list as he was an honorable mention in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
Honorable mention honors went to Dordt’s Jacob Vis and Cade Bleeker. Northwestern’s Isaac Heyer was also named honorable mention.
Bleeker was an honorable mention selection and scored 10.6 points per game with 3.7 rebounds and he made 48 percent of his field goals and led the team with 44 made three-point shots. Bleeker was a second-team pick in 2019-20.
Vis was an honorable mention pick after averaging 12.5 points per game with 6.0 rebounds and he made 66 percent of his field goals and blocked a team high 31 shots.
