CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The 2019-20 All-American Rivers Conference Men's Basketball Team as voted by the league's head coaches:

2019-20 All-American Rivers Conference Men's Basketball Team
Most Valuable Player Nate Schimonitz, Sr., Nebraska Wesleyan University
Defensive Player of the Year Adam McDermott, Sr., Coe College
Coach of the Year Dale Wellman, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Most Valuable Player	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Nate Schimonitz @ $ &	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	G	Omaha, Neb./Omaha Creighton Prep
Defensive Player of the Year	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Adam McDermott *	Coe	Sr.	G	Robins, Iowa/Xavier
First Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Timothy Jeffries *	Buena Vista	Sr.	G	North Las Vegas, Nev./Legacy
Adam McDermott *	Coe	Sr.	G	Robins, Iowa/Xavier
Austin Roth	Coe	Sr.	F	Hudson, Iowa/Hudson
Peter Ragen	Dubuque	Jr.	G	Orland Park, Ill./Joliet Catholic
JT Ford	Loras	Sr.	G	St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East
Rowan McGowen #	Loras	Jr.	G	Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North
Jack Hiller # ~	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	G	Olathe, Kan./Olathe East
Conor Riordan $ &	Simpson	Sr.	G	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny
Second Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Dominic Sesma	Buena Vista	Jr.	G	Glendale, Ariz./Westview
Michael Demers	Buena Vista	Jr.	G	Storm Lake, Iowa/St. Mary's
Adam Flinn	Central	Jr.	G	St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette
Jacob Robertson	Coe	So.	G	Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Linn-Mar
Clay Reimers ~	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	C	Lincoln, Neb./Concordia University
Nate Bahe	Nebraska Wesleyan	Sr.	F	Wood River, Neb./Wood River
Adam Reiter *	Simpson	Sr.	C	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny
Kyle Wagner *	Simpson	Sr.	F	Manning, Iowa/IKM-Manning
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Josh Schmitt	Coe	Sr.	G	Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert
Avery Butler ~	Dubuque	Sr.	F	Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead
Mitch Burger	Dubuque	Jr.	G	Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier
Jack Molstead	Wartburg	Fr.	G	Charles City, Iowa/Charles City
Max Smith Drahos ~	Wartburg	Jr.	G	Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie
Ryan Stulken	Wartburg	Jr.	F	Walford, Iowa/Xavier
Previous Honors
& - 2018-19 First Team All-Conference
*- 2018-19 Second Team All-Conference
~ - 2018-19 Honorable Mention
$ - 2017-18 First Team All-Conference
% - 2017-18 Second Team All-Conference
# - 2017-18 Honorable Mention
! - 2017-18 Most Valuable Player
@ - 2016-17 First Team All-Conference

The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today its major men's basketball awards and the 17-member All-Conference team for the 2019-20 season. Nebraska Wesleyan senior guard Nate Schimonitz (Omaha, Neb./Omaha Creighton Prep) was named the American Rivers Most Valuable Player and Coe College senior guard Adam McDermott (Robins, Iowa/Xavier) was voted Defensive Player of the Year. Nebraska Wesleyan University head coach Dale Wellman earned the honor of American Rivers men's basketball Coach of the Year for the fourth-consecutive season.

Schimonitz is now four-for-four in all-conference selections, garnering first-team honors the past three seasons to go along with this year’s MVP accolade. The Omaha Neb. native becomes the second NWU player to earn MVP honors, joining two-time selection Ryan Garver (2019, 2018).
 
In 16 league contests Schimonitz led the conference in points per game at 25.2. Making 148-of-258 field goals for a percentage of .574, the senior guard ranked second in the conference. Additionally, he ranked fourth in free throw percentage (.847), making 72-of-85, sixth in three-point field goals per game (2.2), and t-2nd in steals per game (1.9). Nationally, he ranks 3^rd in total field goals made (258), 8^th in points per game (26.1), 8^th in total points (679), and 20^th in assists per game (5.8).
 
McDermott is the first Coe College men’s basketball student-athlete to garner Defensive Player of the Year accolades since the league's inception of honoring a Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year in 2010-11. In this his senior season for the Kohawks, McDermott totaled 80 rebounds for an average of 5.0 per game while adding 0.8 steals per game. Offensively he put up 13.4 points per game while averaging 1.9 three-point field goals per game and 2.3 assists.
 
Additionally, McDermott was selected first-team all-conference, as the defensive player of the year is not honored as all-conference unless selected to the first or second team by the coaches. This is the second all-conference honor for McDermott, adding to his second-team selection a season ago.

In Wellman's sixth year at the helm of the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball program, and fourth year in the conference, he claimed the program's fourth-consecutive regular-season title and third-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 match their 2018 National Championship. The Prairie Wolves were selected to host first and second round games Friday, March 6 - Saturday, March 7. NWU will face Webster University in the opening round on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Wellman and assistants Casey McGraw, Chris Hamilton, and Ryan Tegtmeier led Nebraska Wesleyan to a 24-3 overall mark and a 15-1 record in conference play, while being ranked inside that nation’s top-10 13-of-14 weeks. Nebraska Wesleyan led the conference in scoring offense and defense with 88.4 points per game and 71.2 points per game, respectively. The Prairie Wolves also posted league-bests in scoring margin (17.2), field goal percentage (.519), defensive field goal percentage (.419), three-point field goals made per game (10.4), offensive rebounds per game (38.2), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.57). Nationally, NWU ranks within the top twenty in four categories. With a 27-game field goal percentage of 51.5%, the Prairie Wolves rank third, and their scoring margin of 15.7 points stands fifth. NWU ranks 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.49) and 17th in scoring offense (87.6).  

The American Rivers All-Conference first team highlighted players from six of the league's nine schools, with three of the eight selections earning at least their second all-conference honors. Two honorees move to first team after earning honorable mention recognition a season ago, and three are first-time honorees.
 
Buena Vista University’s Timothy Jeffries (Sr. North Las Vegas, Nev./Legacy) received the first-team nod after garnering second team honors in 2019. Jeffries owned the league’s seventh-best scoring average in 2020 at 16.5 points per game and ranked seventh in field goal percentage (.487). The senior guard also ranked seventh in free throw percentage (.791) while adding 5.0 rebounds per game and 2.1 assists per game.
 
As mentioned above, Coe’s McDermott is earning first-team accolades for the first time, adding to his Defensive Player of the Year honor and selection to the second team a season ago. Joining him as a first-team selection is Austin Roth (Sr., Hudson, Iowa/Hudson). The Kohawk forward blocked 21 shots in 16 conference games to rank second. Roth’s 15.5 points per game was ninth in the league and his 48.9% from the field ranked seventh. Additionally, he averaged 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
 
With a first-team selection, the University of Dubuque’s Peter Ragen (Jr., Orland Park, Ill./Joliet Catholic) earns his first all-conference honor. During 16 league games Ragen average 16.8 points and 7.0 rebounds to rank sixth and fifth, respectively. He shot 80% from the free throw line to stand sixth in the conference and owned the 11^th-best field goal percentage (.441). The junior guard added 1.8 assists and 0.6 blocked shots per game.
 
Loras placed two on the 2020 first-team roster in JT Ford (Sr., St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and Rowan McGowen (Jr., Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North). The all-conference honor is the first for Ford, while McGowen moves up from last year’s honorable mention recognition.
 
Ford put up 17.6 points per game for the fifth-best conference average and finished third with 8.6 rebounds per game. The senior guard’s field goal percentage of .544 ranked fourth best and his 3.3 assists per game ranked eighth.
 
Scoring 18.2 points per game, McGowen ranked fourth in the conference and his 46.2% from the field ranked ninth. McGowen was a threat from three-point range, ranking second in three-point field goal percentage (.398) and third in three-pointers made per game (2.7).
 
In addition to Schimonitz being recognized as an All-Conference performer with MVP accolades, Nebraska Wesleyan’s Jack Hiller (Sr., Olathe, Kan./Olathe East) earned first-team honors. The Prairie Wolf guard averaged 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. His three-point field goal percentage of 37.7% ranked third in the conference and his 2.5 three-pointers per game stood fourth best. Hiller also earned honorable mention recognition in 2019 and 2018.

Simpson's Conor Riordan (Sr., Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny) closes out his career as a three-time first-team selection. The Ankeny prep averaged 19.8 points and 4.1 assists per game to rank third and t-2nd, respectively. Riordan finished t-6th in field goal percentage (.516) and second in free throw percentage (.921). Making 1.9 three-point field goals per game, Riordan ranked 10th in the league. Additionally, he averaged 5.4 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game.

The 17-member team includes seven who are earning at least their second all-conference honor (first-second team).