FREELAND, Mich.-- Trine's Jared Holmquist and Will Dixon have been named to the All-MIAA Men's Basketball First Team, the conference announced Friday.
Holmquist (Reed City, Mich./Reed City) and Dixon (Indianapolis, Ind./Zionsville) each earned First Team honors for the second consecutive season. This is the first time the Thunder has had two All-MIAA First Team honorees in back-to-back seasons as a member of the conference. The duo led Trine to a 17-8 overall mark and the no. 4 seed in the MIAA Tournament. The Thunder tied the program record for its most wins in a season as a member of Division III.
Holmquist added to his growing collection of accolades during his senior season, which also include CapitalOne Academic All-District® honors, D3 News Player of the Month honors, three MIAA Player of the Week awards and recognition on the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week. The senior ranked second in the conference in scoring at 21.2 points per game and rebounding at a clip of 8.6 per contest.
Holmquist enters tonight's MIAA Semifinal needing 12 points to reach the 1,500-point milestone in his career. He ranks second in school history with 107 career blocked shots and third in team history with 730 career rebounds. He has notched 21 double-doubles in his career, including nine this season. He has started more games than any player on record in program history.
Dixon earned his second career all-conference honor after finishing fifth in the MIAA in scoring at 17 points per game (15.9 in league play). The junior also finished fifth in the conference in assists per game (2.8) and notched 1.5 steals per game, the third-best mark in the league. Dixon won two MIAA Player of the Week honors, was named Most Valuable Player of the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational and earned recognition on the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week.
Earlier this season, Dixon flew past the 1,000-career point milestone and now sits with a career total of 1,266 points. Dixon's career average of 16.4 points per game ranks sixth in school history. He has started 72 consecutive games dating back to his freshman season. Dixon has topped 30 points in a game six times in his Trine career.
The Trine men's basketball team faces No. 1 seed Hope tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the MIAA Semifinals at DeVos Fieldhouse. The winner advances to tomorrow night's championship game at 8 p.m.
The complete All-MIAA teams and award-winners are listed below.
Most Valuable Player: Scott Nikodemski, Alma
Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Travell Oaks, Albion and Ben Gardner, Hope
All-MIAA First Team
Scott Nikodemski, Alma
Jared Holmquist, Trine
Ben Gardner, Hope
Christian Covile, Adrian
Jordan Daley, Calvin
Will Dixon, Trine
All-MIAA Second Team
Brock Benson, Hope
Travell Oaks, Albion
Jordan Herron, Albion
Chase Baysdell, Kalamazoo
Lee Gardner, Olivet
DJ Beckman, Alma
Trevor Gernaat, Alma