CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The 2018-19 American Rivers All-Conference Men's Basketball Team as voted by the league's head coaches:

2018-19 American Rivers All-Conference Men's Basketball
Most Valuable Player Ryan Garver, Sr., Nebraska Wesleyan
Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Garver, Sr., Nebraska Wesleyan
Coach of the Year Dale Wellman, Nebraska Wesleyan
Most Valuable Player	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Ryan Garver ! @	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	F	Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast
Defensive Player of the Year	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Ryan Garver ! @	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	F	Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast
First Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Nolan Timp	Coe	Sr.	F	Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic
Josh Ruggles !	Loras	Sr.	G	Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton-Warrenville South
Ryan DiCanio & $	Loras	Sr.	G	Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett
Cooper Cook > $	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	F	Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North
Nate Schimonitz &	Nebraska Wesleyan	Jr.	G	Omaha, Neb./Omaha Creighton Prep
Conor Riordan $	Simpson	Jr.	G	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny
Cam Kickbush %	Wartburg	Sr.	G	Reinbeck, Iowa/Gladbrook-Reinbeck
Jaran Sabus ~ $	Wartburg	Sr.	G	Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale
Second Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Timothy Jeffries	Buena Vista	Jr.	G	North Las Vegas, Neb./Legacy
Jamel McKnight %	Central	Sr.	G	Austin, Texas/Hendrickson
Jaden Moody	Central	Jr.	G	Cambridge, Iowa/Ballard
Adam McDermott	Coe	Jr.	G	Robins, Iowa/Xavier
Marcus McDaniel	Dubuque	Sr.	G	Roselle, Ill./Lake Park
Demond George ~	Loras	Sr.	G	Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley
Adam Reiter	Simpson	Jr.	C	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny
Kyle Wagner	Simpson	Jr.	F	Manning, Iowa/IKM-Manning
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Calvin Winker	Coe	Sr.	F	Marion, Iowa/Xavier
Avery Butler	Dubuque	Jr.	F	Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead
Jordan Boyd	Loras	Fr.	F	Bellwood, Ill./St. Joseph
Clay Reimers	Nebraska Wesleyan	Jr.	C	Lincoln, Neb./Concordia University
Jack Hiller #	Nebraska Wesleyan	Jr.	G	Olathe, Kan./Olathe East
Max Smith Drahos	Wartburg	So.	G	Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie
Previous Honors
$ - 2017-18 First Team All-Conference
% - 2017-18 Second Team All-Conference
# - 2017-18 Honorable Mention
! - 2017-18 Most Valuable Player
@ - 2017-18 Defensive Player of the Year
& - 2016-17 First Team All-Conference
*- 2016-17 Second Team All-Conference
~ - 2016-17 Honorable Mention
> - 2016-17 Most Valuable Player

The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today its major men's basketball awards and the 17-member All-Conference team for the 2018-19 season. Ryan Garver (Sr., Lincoln, Neb. / Lincoln Northeast) of Nebraska Wesleyan has been voted the American Rivers Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season. Nebraska Wesleyan University head coach Dale Wellman earned the honor of American Rivers men's basketball Coach of the Year for the third-consecutive season.

Since the league's inception of honoring a Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year in 2010-11, Garver is the first to win both awards in back-to-back season and just the second player to earn both accolades at any time. Dubuque's Andre Norris (2015-16) is the only other dual award-winner. 

Playing in 15-of-16 conference games, Garver led the league in steals (46, 3.1/game), assists (115, 7.7/game) and assists-to-turnover ratio (4.6). Garver owned a league field goal percentage of .603, averaged 16.1 points per game (ppg) and 6.3 rebounds per game (rpg) to rank fourth, 11^th and sixth, respectively. The senior forward earned Conference Player of the Week three times in 2018-19, including last week, when NWU won their second-straight Conference Tournament Title. Playing in 26-of-27 total games this season, Garver's 3.96 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks third in NCAA Division III and his assist per game average of 7.6 is number-one. The Lincoln Northeast prep averaged 3.08 steals per game, good for fourth in Division III and his 80 total steals stands fifth. With a 62.8 field goal percentage, Garver is 19^th in Division III and his nine double-doubles this season ranks 91^st.

In Wellman's fifth year at the helm of the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball program and third year in the conference, he claimed the program's third regular-season title and second-straight tournament crown. With the conference tournament championship, the Prairie Wolves earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where they will look to defend their 2018 National Title. The Prairie Wolves were selected to host first and second rounds games Friday, March 1 - Saturday, March 2. NWU will face Eureka College in the opening round on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Wellman led Nebraska Wesleyan to a 26-1 overall record and 15-1 in conference play, while holding the nation's number-one ranking all but one week. Nebraska Wesleyan led the conference in scoring defense (71.2ppg), scoring margin (+16.2), field goal percentage (.521), field goal percentage defense (.404), rebounding offense (39.1rpg), rebounding margin (+6.4), blocked shots (55, 3.4/game), assists (319, 19.9/game) and assist-to-turnover ration (1.9). Nationally, NWU ranks within the top five in six categories. With a 27-game assist-to-turnover ration of 1.84, the Prairie Wolves rank third, as do they for assists per game (21.7), total assists (585 and three-point field goal percentage (41.5). A 54.1 field goal percentage for NWU ranks second in Division III and their scoring margin of plus 18 ranks fourth.

The American Rivers All-Conference first team highlighted players from five of the league's nine schools, with seven of the eight selections earning at least their second all-conference honor.

Loras' Josh Ruggles (Sr., Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton-Warrenville South), 2018 Co-MVP of the league, finished 2019 conference play tied for seventh in points scored per game (17.1). The senior standout totaled 48 assists for 3.0 assists per game (apg), ranking eighth in the conference. From the charity stripe he made 41-of-47 for a .872 FT percentage, good for fifth in the league. Draining 53 three-pointers, Ruggles finished second in the conference and his 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio stands third.

Ryan DiCanio (Sr., Bartlett, Ill. / Bartlett) of Loras moves to a three-time member of the all-conference first-team. DiCanio averaged 17.8ppg in 16 league contests, ranking him fifth in the conference. At 6.0rpg, DiCanio finished ninth in the standings and fourth in assists per game with 3.1. Additionally, the Bartlett, Ill. native ranked sixth in steals per game with 1.5.
 
Ruggles, DiCanio and the Duhawks earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball 64-team field. The Duhawks are making their first trip to the tournament since 2008. Loras will play Albion Friday, March 1 at 5:30 p.m. in Naperville, Ill. at host North Central.

The 2016-17 league MVP, Cooper Cook (Sr., Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley North) of Nebraska Wesleyan, was named to the first team for the second year in a row. The Blue Valley North prep turned in another outstanding A-R-C season, finishing first in rebounds per game (9.2), three-point field goal percentage (.505), blocked shots (30, 1.9/game), fourth in field goal percentage (.603) and tied for seventh in points per game (17.1).
 
Prairie Wolf teammate Nate Schimonitz (Jr., Omaha, Neb. / Omaha Creighton Prep) is now three-for-three in first-team all-conference selections. Schimonitz averaged 13.4ppg, playing in 14-of-16 conference contests. He ranked fourth in assists per game (3.6) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).

Simpson's Conor Riordan (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny), now in his junior year, earned his second first-team honor. Riordan played in 15-of-16 conference games, averaging 16.3ppg to rank ninth in the league. The Ankeny prep ranked seventh in assists per game (3.1) and eighth in three-point field goals made per game (2.2). His 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks fourth in the league.

Wartburg's Jaran Sabus (Sr., Urbandale, Iowa / Urbandale) closed out his career as a two-time first-team selection and added honorable mention recognition as a sophomore. The Urbandale prep was the league’s leading scorer in 2019 at 21.6ppg. He averaged 6.1rpg and 4.5apg ranking eighth and third, respectively.  
 
Fellow Knight, Cam Kickbush (Sr., Reinbeck, Iowa / Gladbrook-Reinbeck) moved to first-team all-conference in 2019 after being selected second-team as a junior. Kickbush averaged 19.5ppg, ranking second in the conference. From the free throw line, he made 37-of-42 (.881) ranking fourth and drained 67-of-144 (.465) three-point shots, good for sixth. His 67 three-pointers was top in the league.
 
Nolan Timp (Sr., Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic) of Coe garners his first career all-conference honor in this his senior season. Timp’s 17.3ppg ranks sixth in the league and his 7.2rpg ranks fourth. From the field he shot 62.7 percent to stand atop the conference leaderboard.

The 17-member team includes eight who are earning at least their second all-conference honor (first-second team). Not mentioned above, the eighth player earning multiple honors is Central’s Jamel McKnight (Sr., Austin, Texas/Hendrickson), selected to the second-team for back-to-back seasons.
 

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