Official Release
INDIANAPOLIS – During the first round of the NCAA Championship bracket, the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Men’s Basketball All-Midwest Region Team was announced.
Three student-athletes were represented from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference on the first and second team for their accomplishments in 2018-19.
Findlay’s Alex White, Lake Erie’s Gabe Kynard, Walsh’s JT Shumate and Ohio Dominican’s Hasan Varence, were all first team all-conference selections and made this year’s all-region list of 10 honorees.
Nominees from the Great Midwest, Great Lakes Valley Conference and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, were all considered in the voting.
White earned the ultimate honor as the D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year, the first from the Great Midwest in the league’s history in men’s hoops.
The senior forward recently concluded his career as the Oilers advanced into the second round of the NCAA Championship and ended their season with a 28-5 overall record. White helped the Oilers maintain a steady top-10 national ranking during the season and he was the Great Midwest Player of the Year while also being named to the inaugural all-defensive team.
White averaged 18.5 points per game and 8.6 rebounds while shooting nearly 55 percent from the field. He is eligible for D2CCA All-American consideration as a first-team all-region nominee.
The Great Midwest also secured three of the five allocated spots on the all-region second team.
Kynard was a driving for Lake Erie as the Storm qualified for the conference playoffs for the second year in a row. He was the league’s fourth-leading scorer at 18.2 points per game and also garnered a conference athlete of the week selection during his junior season.
Kynard shot over 40 percent from three-point territory and was nearly at 46 percent overall. He also grabbed 5.3 rebounds from his guard position and averaged over a steal per contest.
Kynard was a second team all-region nominee and the Storm finished with a 17-12 overall record.
Walsh rookie JT Shumate took the league by storm this year, earning conference athlete of the week selections three times and was ultimately voted as the Great Midwest Freshman of the Year.
Shumate helped Walsh win the conference tournament championship title and get the Cavaliers into March Madness with the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Regional. He was second in the league in scoring at 18.7 points per game and was more than efficient at a 52 percent shooting clip.
Joining Kynard and Shumate on the second team was Ohio Dominican’s athletic forward Hasan Varence, the league leader in rebounding. Varence was a walking highlight reel as he scored 16.2 points per game and helped the Panthers qualify for the postseason.
Varence set the single-game record for rebounds and was also named the USBWA National Player of the Week in addition to two different conference athlete of the week nods.
Varence shot over 52 percent from the field as Ohio Dominican finished 17-11 overall.