HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team had three representatives on the All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) teams, as voted on by league coaches. Brent Cox, Connor Jones and Emmanuel Megnanglo were all honored by the conference as All-MIAA recipients. Cox and Jones were each listed on the First Team and Megnanglo a Second Team All-MIAA student-athlete.
The trio helped lead Trine to a 22-3 overall record and a 12-2 mark in league play. 22 wins is the most in the regular season in the program's NCAA DIII era. For Cox, it is his second time being named a First Team All-MIAA player. The 2022-23 season marks the first time Jones has received postseason awards by the conference and Megnanglo was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2020-21, but this is his first All-MIAA honor.
Cox, a senior forward from Kendallville, Indiana, received First Team All-MIAA in 2020-21 as well as the 2022-23 season. In total this season, Cox was third in the league in scoring at 17.4 points per game, but in MIAA contests alone, he netted 17.7 points per game (second in the conference). He was in the top 10 statistically in free throw percentage at 71.7% (eighth) and steals at 1.4 per game (ninth).
To end the regular season, Cox scored a career-high 26 points in a victory against the Adrian College Bulldogs on senior day to win one of two MIAA Athlete of the Week awards. The prior came on December 20 after he scored 23 points in a win at #3 University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He was a double-digit scorer in 24 of the team's 25 games this season. Cox pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and notched a double-double with 24 points in the season opener versus Manchester University on November 8. Another double-double came at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Jones, a senior guard from Danville, Indiana, nearly doubled his career points total this season to achieve First Team All-MIAA. A facilitator on the floor, Jones was in the top 10 in the conference in scoring (14.4 PPG), assists (4.0 APG) and shot 78.9% from the charity stripe. He has exactly 100 assists in 25 games played and is second in the MIAA in that category.
Jones was a star in the double overtime win against Hope College on January 4 when he went for a career-high 44 points. That tied the record for most points in a single game in Trine's NCAA DIII era. Ten days later, he would continue his hot streak with 27 more at Kalamazoo College. This led to Jones being selected as MIAA Athlete of the Week on back-to-back weeks in early January. The senior guard also averaged 17.0 points per game in the St. Andrews Products Classic in mid-December to give him three Athlete of the Week awards on the season. In a 76-64 win at Adrian College, Jones handed out a career-best nine assists.
Megnanglo made things difficult for opposing teams with his presence near the rim. The junior forward from Cotonou, Benin already has the school record for most blocks in his career (145) and reset his own school record with 65 in the 2022-23 season. He led the MIAA with 2.6 blocks per game and was tied for 14th in all of NCAA DIII.
Megnanglo averaged 8.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals this season while shooting 50.0% from the field. He ranked fourth in steals, fifth in rebounding and seventh in field goal percentage amongst MIAA student-athletes. The highlight of his season came against Adrian when the junior netted a career-best 25 points on 9-of-10 from the field with eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Megnanglo had six games of double-digit rebounds, including 12 at Hope College on February 8.
The Thunder are the number two seed in the MIAA Tournament and will square off with the number three seed, the Hope College Flying Dutch on Friday, February 24. That game takes place at the host site of Calvin University and tips off at 5:30 p.m.
