HELENA — The Frontier Conference announced the 2024-25 men’s basketball all-conference and postseason individual award winners Wednesday. The award recipients are selected by the six head coaches in the conference, who are not permitted to vote for their own players.
Junior forward Hayden Diekhans of Montana Tech was voted as this year’s Frontier Conference player of the year and defensive player of the year. He shot 57.1% from the field (88 of 154) during the conference season. He also leads the overall field goal percentage in the conference with 56.8% and ranks fourth overall with 7.2 rebounds per game.
Diekhans received the conference’s defensive player of the year for the second straight year for the Orediggers.
Kyle Gruhler of Montana Western was selected as the newcomer of the year, and teammate Jacob Ankeny was named the sixth man of the year.
Freshman of the year went to Isaiah Crane of Carroll.
Adam Hiatt was named the conference’s coach of the year for the third straight year. He guided the Orediggers to their fourth consecutive regular-season and postseason tournament titles. Montana Tech also received the conference’s automatic bid to the NAIA men’s basketball national tournament, which is set to kick off the first and second rounds on March 14-15.
Frontier Conference men's basketball
Player of the year: Hayden Diekhans, Montana Tech
Newcomer of the year: Kyle Gruhler, Montana Western
Defensive player of the year: Hayden Diekhans, Montana Tech
Freshman of the year: Isaiah Crane, Carroll
Sixth man of the year: Jacob Ankeny, Montana Western
Coach of the year: Adam Hiatt
First-team all-conference
Hayden Diekhans, Montana Tech, jr., F; Jamil Bowles, Providence, sr., G; Isaiah Crane, Carroll, r-fr., G; Kyle Gruhler, Montana Western, jr., G; Jaylon Lee, Rocky Mountain, jr., F; Keeley Bake, Montana Tech, sr., G; Antonie Boyd, Jr., Providence, sr., G.
Second-team all-conference
Jalyn Stepney, Montana Western, sr., G; Ifeanyi Okeke, Montana Tech, sr., F; Jesse Owens, Rocky Mountain, sr., G; Isaac Round, Carroll, fr., F; Abi Abedo, Montana Western, sr., F; Omari Nesbit, Rocky Mountain, jr., G.
Honorable mention all-conference
Leon Sayers IV, MSU-Northern; Jack Reardon, MSU-Northern.
All-defensive team
Hayden Diekhans, Montana Tech, jr., F; Ifeanyi Okeke, Montana Tech, sr., F; Onwaja Thomas, MSU-Northern, sr., F; Kevin Bethel, Montana Western, sr., G; Jaylon Lee, Rocky Mountain, jr., F.
