Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

Juniors dominate UMAC Men's Basketball All-Conference awards

2/29/2012 1:11:46 PM

ST. PAUL -- The junior class dominated the 2011-2012 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball All-Conference awards, showing that fans have much to look forward to continue watching in 2012-2013. Juniors took four of the five spots on both the all-conference first and second teams while grabbing four of the seven entries on the honorable mention list.

Bethany Lutheran College boasted two UMAC First Team All-Conference selections in Gavin Kroehler and Derek Peterson. The College of St. Scholastica's Brett Tester, Northwestern College's Wade Chitwood and the University of Minnesota Morris' Derek Schmidt rounded out the five first team honors. Kroehler and Chitwood were chosen as the conference's co-players of the year. Kroehler posted top 10 marks in scoring, field goal percentage and blocked shots while Chitwood led the league in scoring to go with top 10 finishes in field goal percentage, three point field goal percentage and steals.

Bethany Lutherans' David Balza was voted the UMAC Coach of the Year by his colleagues after the Vikings posted a 13-1 league record to win their first-ever conference title. Bethany led all schools with four all-conference selections. Northwestern and St. Scholastica each followed with three All-UMAC awards.

Northland College's RJ Dean won the UMAC Freshman of the Year award following a rookie year that included 11.2 points per game in conference affairs. Dean made 51 percent of his attempts throughout the season while finishing second amongst all UMAC players in three-point shooting percentage.

Northwestern College won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches to best represent sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team had one representative on the individual sportsmanship award list. The following participants best exemplified sportsmanship throughout the year:

Patrick Garvin, Bethany Lutheran College
Pat Franko, College of St. Scholastica
Andy Harrel, Crown College
Justin Danell, Martin Luther College
Nate Sharp, Northland College
Gabe Jefferson, Northwestern College
Vladimir Charlitte, Presentation College
Logan Orazem, University of Minnesota Morris

Below is the full 2011-2012 UMAC Men's Basketball awards list.

1st Team All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
* Gavin Kroehler	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Forward
Derek Peterson	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Guard
Brett Tester	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	Forward
* Wade Chitwood	Northwestern College	Junior	Guard
Derek Schmidt	University of Minnesota-Morris	Senior	Center

2nd Team All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Alex Weldon	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Forward
Jonah Dahlman	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	Guard
Galen Holzhueter	Martin Luther College	Sophomore	Forward
Adrian Flores	Northland College	Junior	Forward
Tom Gisler	Northwestern College	Junior	Forward

Honorable Mention All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Patrick Garvin	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Guard
Chris Hamers	College of St. Scholastica	Senior	Guard
Taylor Jones	Crown College	Junior	Forward
Truman Shetler	Crown College	Junior	Guard
Gabe Jefferson	Northwestern College	Senior	Forward
Darrell Farr	Presentation College	Junior	Center
Brendon Foss	University of Minnesota-Morris	Sophomore	Guard

All-Defensive Team
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Gavin Kroehler	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Forward
Derek Peterson	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	Guard
Jonah Dahlman	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	Guard
Gabe Jefferson	Northwestern College	Senior	Forward
Brendon Foss	University of Minnesota-Morris	Sophomore	Guard