The Horizon League placed five players on the NABC All-District 12 team that was announced on Friday.Valparaiso's Alec Peters and Oakland's Kay Felder both repeated as First-Team Honorees, while Crusader Head Coach Bryce Drew repeated as District 12 Coach of the Year.
Detroit's Paris Bass, Green Bay's Carrington Love and Milwaukee's Matt Tiby were all honored for the first time in their careers and were placed on the Second Team.
The five players honored by the NABC made up the Horizon League First-Team.
Peters is in the midst of his best season as a Crusader. The junior – who also repeated as a First Team All-Horizon League selection and also earned All-District honors from the USBWA – leads the Crusaders, averaging 18.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game on 51.1% shooting from the field and 44.8% shooting from 3-point range this year. He ranks third in a single season in program history in scoring with 649 points this year, just 13 points out of second position, and sixth in a single season in rebounding with 294 rebounds. Peters also has already moved into fifth place in program history on the career scoring chart and into ninth on the career rebounding chart.
Felder was named the Horizon League Player of the Year after finishing the regular season leading the HL in scoring with an average of 24.4 points per game and led the nation in assists, averaging 9.4 per contest. The Detroit, Mich.-native is aiming to become the first player since Davidson’s Stephen Curry (28.6 ppg, 5.6 apg) in 2008-09 to average over 34.0 points-plus-assists per game. The 2014 HL Freshman of the Year has 292 assists this season and needs 14 more to break the HL mark of 305 that has stood since the 1984-85 season. Felder broke the League’s career assists record on Feb. 11, and with 760 career assists currently, he can now turn his attention towards chasing the NCAA DI career assists mark of 1,076 set by Duke’s Bobby Hurley (1989-93).
Bass led his team in scoring and rebounding as he enters postseason play with averages of 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The 2015 Horizon League Freshman of the Year is the only player in the League to rank in the top-5 in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocked shots.
Tiby helped the Panthers to 20 wins and was named an All-Horizon League First Team selection after leading the team with 15.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, finishing seventh in the conference in scoring and fourth in rebounding.
Love led Green Bay in scoring and steals this season with averages of 18.3 points and 2.5 steals per game. The senior stepped up and filled the scoring void created by the graduation of two-time Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes as he nearly doubled his scoring average of 9.5 points as a junior. Also voted as a member of the Horizon League All-Defensive team, Love led the HL in steals in the regular season with 78, setting Green Bay’s single-season mark.
Drew earned District Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year for his work this year leading the Crusaders to a school-record 29 victories. Drew, who was named Horizon League Coach of the Year for the third time in his five seasons, guided Valpo to its fourth league regular season crown in the last five years and an impressive RPI of 19 in the non-league slate, highlighted by a win at Oregon State. Over the past couple weeks, he has led the Crusaders to a trio of double-digit victories in the NIT as Valpo has advanced to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals of the NIT for the first time in program history.
