Ada senior guard Konnor Baker was chosen as the 2011-12 NWC Player of The Year by Northwest Conference boys basketball coaches at the annual selection meeting Monday evening at Delphos Jefferson. Baker received 134 of a possible 135 points in the coaches’ voting.
Baker averaged 20.6 points per game along with 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists for the Bulldogs, and it marked Baker’s third straight year as a first team all-conference performer.
He was joined on the NWC first team by LCC’s Tyler O’Connor, Spencerville’s Eli Bowers, Columbus Grove’s Jordan Travis, and LCC’s Billy Taflinger. O’Connor also made first team all-conference for the third year in a row.
The voting procedure called for each coach to vote for the top 15 players on a 15-14-13, etc. point descending scale. No coach could vote for his own players.
In a conference first, three coaches received identical vote totals, so Jeremy Best of Crestview, Frank Kill of Lima Central Catholic, and Ryan Stechschulte of Columbus Grove all earned Co-Coach of the Year honors in the NWC.
The team breakdowns are as follows:
First Team
Konnor Baker – Ada – Senior
Tyler O’Connor – Lima Central Catholic – Senior
Eli Bowers – Spencerville – Senior
Jordan Travis – Columbus Grove – Senior
Billy Taflinger – Lima Central Catholic – Senior
Second Team
Connor Kohls – Columbus Grove – Senior
Dan Binkley – Spencerville – Senior
Sloan Whitaker – Lincolnview – Senior
Nick Adam – Crestview – Senior
James Richardson – Allen East – Senior
Honorable Mention
Derek Goecke -Spencerville – Junior
Bobby Steiner – Ada – Senior
Damian Helm – Crestview – Sophomore
Clayton Longstreth – Lincolnview – Senior
Anthony Arellano – Paulding – Senior
Ross Thompson – Delphos Jefferson – Sophomore
John Kidd – Lima Central Catholic – Senior
Michael Donley – Bluffton – Junior
Dallas Gibson – Crestview – Senior
Wade Heffner – Columbus Grove – Senior