MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — The 2021-22 All-River States Conference Men’s Basketball Teams & Awards were announced today at RiverStatesConference.com. Indiana University Kokomo headlines the honorees with RSC Player of the Year Desean Hampton and RSC Coach of the Year Eric Echelbarger.
The All-RSC Men’s Basketball First & Second Teams consist of 10 players each. The selections were made with voting from the 13 head coaches in the RSC. Also named was the RSC Men’s Basketball Champions of Character Team with one player from each school named for best displaying the NAIA five-character values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership, and sportsmanship. For Alice Lloyd, Colyn Sturgill received his honor.
Hampton was chosen RSC Player of the Year as the top vote-getter in the conference. His teammate Trequan Spivey, a fellow senior for the Cougars, came in second in the voting. Hampton, a 6-5 native of Speedway, Ind., averages a double-double of 12.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game. A force on offense, defense, and the boards, Hampton shoots 61 percent from the field.
Echelbarger, in his fourth season as IU Kokomo head coach, has the Cougars in the RSC Championship finals at 28-3 overall, 17-1 RSC. IU Kokomo is ranked No. 22 in the NAIA Top 25, and the Cougars are already in the NAIA National Championship as RSC Regular Season and RSC West Division champs.
Spivey joined Hampton on the All-RSC First Team to give the Cougars two players selected on the top team. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College also had two players on the first team with forward Will Philpot (3rd overall) and guard Noah Young (6th overall). University of Rio Grande (Ohio) had two on the first team with guard Miki Tadic and forward Shiloah Blevins.
The first team also included Midway (Ky.) University senior forward Raekwon Evans, IU Southeast senior guard Glenn Hill, Jr., WVU Tech freshman forward Thomas Hailey, and Point Park (Pa.) University senior guard Sherron Schifino.
IU Southeast sophomore guard Ahmad Price was chosen as RSC Newcomer of the Year. A sophomore from Louisville, Ky., the Lincoln Trail CC transfer averaged 17.5 points per game and shot 59 percent from the field. He led in votes among new players to the conference this year and made the All-RSC Second Team.
WVU Tech led the All-RSC Second Team with three selections while there were two each from IU East and IU Southeast. Alice Lloyd sophomore forward Damon Tobler was also named to this group.