Kansas City, Mo. – Northwest Missouri’s Justin Pitts has been named the MIAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Year for the third straight season. Jeff Boschee, who led Missouri Southern to a second-place regular season finish has been named the league’s Coach of the Year as the teams were announced today.

Pitts finished the regular season averaging 18.8 points per game in MIAA play, good for second-best in the league. The MIAA scoring leader at 21.8 points per game was Nebraska-Kearney’s Trey Lansman, who is making his second-straight appearance on the first team.

Washburn’s Brady Skeens was named the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, as well as All-MIAA first team, for the second straight season. Skeens wrapped up the regular season leading the league in rebounding (11.1 per game), field goal percentage (.712) and blocked shots (2.4 per game ), while averaging 15.2 points per game.

Missouri Southern’s CJ Carr and Central Missouri’s Spencer Reaves, both second-team selections last season, round out the All-MIAA First Team during their senior campaigns. Carr leads the league in assists (6.2 per game) and steals (2.4 per game). Reaves wrapped up the regular season averaging 16.3 points per game with a .510 field goal percentage.

Southwest Baptist’s Chris Rossow has been named the MIAA Freshman of the Year and is averaging 4.7 assists per game, good for fifth-best in the league, while averaging 10.6 points per game.

The MIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament gets underway tonight with the first four games on the campus sites of the higher seed. Tonight’s winning teams will advance to Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City to face the tournament’s top four seeds on March 2-4.

Player of the Year
Justin Pitts, Sr., Northwest Missouri

Defensive Player of the Year
Brady Skeens, Sr., Washburn

Freshman of the Year
Chris Rossow, Fr., Southwest Baptist

Coach of the Year
Jeff Boschee, Missouri Southern

All-MIAA First Team
CJ Carr, Sr., Missouri Southern
Trey Lansman, Sr., Nebraska-Kearney
Justin Pitts, Sr., Northwest Missouri
Spencer Reaves, Sr., Central Missouri
Brady Skeens, Sr., Washburn

All-MIAA Second Team
Corbin Byford, Sr., Central Oklahoma
Elyjah Clark, So., Missouri Southern
Hadley Gillum, Sr., Fort Hays
Logan Hovey, Sr., Southwest Baptist
Chris-Ebou Ndow , Sr., Northwest Missouri

All-MIAA Third Team
Xavier Adams, Sr., Pittsburg State
Brett Dougherty, Sr., Northwest Missouri
Jakob Lowrance, Jr., Central Missouri
Terrance Smith, Jr., Lincoln
Joey Witthus Jr., Northwest Missouri

All-Defensive Team
CJ Carr, Sr., Missouri Southern
Brett Dougherty, Sr., Northwest Missouri
Jake Hammond, Sr., Central Oklahoma
DJ Richardson, Sr., Central Missouri
Brady Skeens, Sr., Washburn

Honorable Mention All-MIAA
DJ Richardson, Sr., Central Missouri
Marqueese Grayson, Sr., Central Oklahoma
Brandon Hall, Jr., Emporia State
Stephaun Limuel , Sr., Emporia State
Amariontez Ivory, Jr., Lincoln
Maurice Mason, Sr., Lincoln
Chandler Diekvoss, Jr., Lindenwood
Brad Newman, Jr., Lindenwood
Jackson Price, Jr., Lindenwood
Kinzer Lambert, So., Missouri Southern
Lavon Hightower, Jr., Missouri Western
Ty Danielson, Sr., Nebraska-Kearney
Lane Rohrich, Sr., Nebraska-Kearney
Jamir Andrews, Gr., Northeastern State
Donovan Franklin, Jr., Pittsburg State
Javion Blake, Jr., Washburn

— MIAA Press Release —