COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), senior guard Keenan Gumbs was selected as SCAC Men's Basketball Player-of-the-Year and his head coach, Connor Kuykendall, was named the league's Coach-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year.
In his fourth season at the helm of the Schreiner program, head coach Connor Kuykendall has led the Mountaineers to back-to-back SCAC regular season titles, including this year's squad that finished 10-4 in SCAC play (13-12 overall) – two games clear of a trio of teams at 8-6. No one has more conference wins the last two seasons than Schreiner's 21. The Mountaineers will be the No. 1 seed at this weekend's conference tournament at Colorado College and will play the winner of the Trinity/Colorado College in Saturday's first semifinal game. Last season, Schreiner made it to the SCAC title game where the team dropped an 83-70 to Texas Lutheran. Kuykendall is the third consecutive coach to win or share back-to-back COTY honors – following Pat Cunningham of Trinity (2012-13 and 2013-14) and Jimmy Smith of Texas Lutheran (2014-15 and 2015-16).
2017-18 SCAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Keenan Gumbs, Schreiner University, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Cibolo, Texas
2017-18 SCAC NEWCOMER-OF-THE-YEAR
Spencer Levi, University of Dallas, 6-7, Fy, Forward, St. Louis, Mo.
2017-18 SCAC DEFENSIVE CO-PLAYERS-OF-THE-YEAR
Spencer Levi, University of Dallas, 6-7, Fy., Forward, St. Louis, Mo.
Danny Rivara, Trinity University, 6-7, So., Forward, Horseshoe Bay, Texas
2017-18 SCAC COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Connor Kuykendall, Schreiner University, 13-12 Overall / 10-4 SCAC / Top seed in SCAC Tourney
2017-18 ALL-SCAC FIRST TEAM
Keenan Gumbs, Schreiner, 6-4, Sr., Guard, Cibolo, Texas
Travion Kirkendoll, Centenary, 6-3, Sr., Guard, Campti, La.
Spencer Levi, Dallas, 6-7, Fy., Forward, St. Louis, Mo.
Danny Rivara, Trinity, 6-7, So., Forward, Horseshoe Bay, Texas
Eric Houska, Colorado College, 6-1, Sr., Guard, Wilton, Conn.
2017-18 ALL-SCAC SECOND TEAM
Blake Kelley, Schreiner, 6-7, Sr., Forward, El Paso, Texas
Cooxooeii Black, Colorado College, 6-7, So., Forward, Lander, Wyo.
Cedric Harris, Centenary, 6-5, So., Guard, Shreveport, La.
Nathan Josephs, Texas Lutheran, 5-10, Jr., Guard, San Antonio, Texas
Darrius Colvin, Dallas, 6-4, Jr., Guard, Waco, Texas
2017-18 ALL-SCAC THIRD TEAM
Matt Jones, Trinity, 5-10, Sr., Guard, Austin, Texas
Justice Mercadel, Austin College, 6-3, Fy., Guard Little Elm, Texas
Brandon Alexander, Southwestern, 6-5, So., Forward, Inez, Texas
Jayden Holden, Trinity, 6-4, Sr., Forward, The Woodlands, Texas
Isiah Specks, Trinity, 6-4, Jr., Forward, Pearland, Texas
HONORABLE MENTION (players receiving votes)
Austin College – Michael Holland (Fy., F); Centenary – Kaharri Carter (Jr., F), Treylan Matthews (Jr., G); Colorado College – John Hatch (Sr., G); Dallas – Michael Wambsganss (Fy., G); Schreiner – Ellis Jones (Fy., G), Luis Mancillas (Sr., G); Southwestern – Kyle Howard (So., G), Ryan Wheeler (So., G); Texas Lutheran – Sebastian Andrade (Fy., G), Jacob Kouremetis (Jr., G)
Coaches voted for 15 places for All-SCAC with 15 points awarded for first-place votes, 14 points for second-place votes, 13 points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a 15th-place vote. All players not elected to the First, Second or Third Team, but who received at least one vote, were named Honorable Mention. Coaches could not vote for their own players.