Three Lights earn Frontier honors

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team had an outstanding season. The Lights racked up 21 wins and made it to the Frontier Conference semifinals. A lot of Northern's success was helped by the fact that the Lights were the top defensive team in the Frontier Conference.

So, it's no surprise that Northern now also boasts the Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year. MSU-N junior Ryan Reeves was announced as the league's Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday when the Frontier released its 2016-17 All-Conference awards.

Reeves, a 6-10 junior from Wrangell, Alaska, had 64 blocked shots this season, averaging two per game, which was tops in the Frontier. He also averaged 10 points and seven rebounds per night on his way to Honorable Mention All-Conference honors.

In all, Northern had three players selected to the Frontier All-Conference Team. Senior David Straughter was named Second-Team All-Conference, earning Frontier honors for the second year in a row. Straughter led the Lights at 10.2 points per game, while also pulling down five rebounds per night.

Fellow MSU-N senior Tyler Chandler was voted Honorable Mention All-Conference. Chandler averaged eights points per game, but over his last 10 games, he upped his average to 11 per night. He also made a team-high 57 3-pointers for an MSU-N team that led the Frontier in 3-point shooting.

Carroll College's Zach Taylor was selected as the Frontier Player of the Year. Taylor averaged 17 points and four assists per game for a Fighting Saints' squad that won both the Frontier regular season and tournament championship. Carroll also boasted the most All-Conference selections with four.

UM-Western junior guard Dom Robinson was selected as Newcomer of the Year. Rocky Mountain College junior guard Chad Kananen was selected Sixth-Man of the Year. Western's Zacheus Darko-Kelly was named Freshman of the Year, while his head coach, Steve Keller, was selected as the Frontier Coach of the Year.

Frontier Men's All-Conference

First Team

Ryan Imhoff, Carroll College, 6-6, Jr.; Zach Taylor, Carroll College, 5-11, Sr., Doug McDaniel, Lewis-Clark State, 6-3, Sr.,; Dom Robinson, UM-Western, 5-8, Jr.,; Shyke Small, UM-Western, 6-1, Sr.; Zach Hinton, Rocky Mountain College, 6-6, Sr.

Second Team

Zavon Jackson, Lewis-Clark State, 6-5, Sr.; David Straughter, MSU-Northern, 6-5, Sr.; Chris O'Neil Montana Tech, 6-0, Jr.; Kooper Kidgell, UM-Western, 6-3, So.; Riley Bradshaw, Rocky Mountain College, 6-1, Sr.; Taylor Longo, Rocky Mountain College, 6-1, Sr.

Honorable Mention

Match Burnham, Carroll College, 6-8, So.; Matt Wyman, Carroll College, 6-7, So.; Trea Thomas, Lewis-Clark State, 5-10, Jr.; Tyler Chandler, MSU-Northern, 6-2, Sr.; Ryan Reeves, MSU-Northern, 6-10, Jr.; Lukas Vining, Montana Tech, 6-3, So.; Sergio Berkley, UGF, 6-3, Jr.; Matt McGregor, UGF, 5-8, Jr.