Horizon League Announces 2020-21 #HLMBB All-League Awards
INDIANAPOLIS - After opening the season as the Preseason Player of the Year and helping Wright State to a share of its third-straight regular season title, Loudon Love has been named the Horizon League Player of the Year, as the League announced its men’s basketball All-League honors on Tuesday. Marques Warrick of Northern Kentucky was selected Freshman of the Year, Cleveland State’s Tre Gomillion earned Defensive Player of the Year and Matt Johnson of Detroit Mercy was named Sixth Man of the Year. In addition, Cleveland State’s Dennis Gates was selected as the Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. All awards were voted on by the League’s 12 head coaches.
Love is the Horizon League’s Player of the Year for the second year in a row, becoming the first player since Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes in 2014-15 to go back-to-back. The senior finished Horizon League play nearly averaging a double-double ranking sixth in points at 17.4 and third in rebounds at 9.9. Love currently ranks 17th in country in rebounds and 14th in offensive rebounds at 3.6 per contest. Overall this season, he registered 12 doubles-doubles, the most in the HL and tied for fourth in the country. In addition, he ranked third during #HLMBB play shooting 56.3 percent from the floor. Love also got it done on the defensive end earning a spot on the All-Defensive Team after finishing second in blocks with 1.3 during League games. This marks the third-straight season Love will be a member of the All-Horizon League first team, becoming the first Wright State player to be named to three All-League first teams.
Northern Kentucky’s Warrick ended the regular season averaging 15.9 points per game and garnered seven #HLMBB Freshman of the Week honors en route to being named Freshman of the Year. The Louisville, Ky. native finished Horizon League play ranked fifth in scoring at 17.5 points and top-15 in field-goal percentage shooting 47.4 percent from the floor. Warrick registered nine 20-point performances including setting a career-high 25 points at co-regular season champion Cleveland State on Jan. 9.
Johnson came off the bench in all but four games for Detroit Mercy during League play to earn Sixth Man of the Year. He finished HL play averaging 8.3 points, playing over 21 minutes per game and shot 46.8 percent from the floor while hitting 21 3-pointers. The senior recorded three 20-point games overall this season, including a pair during #HLMBB play with a 24-point outburst against Purdue Fort Wayne.
CSU’s Gomillion was voted Defensive Player of the Year and was a leader on the defensive side of the ball for a Vikings team that finished top-2 during Horizon League play in scoring defense at 68 points per game, field-goal percent defense at 41.9 percent, steals at 7.8 per game and turnover margin with a +2.1 margin.
Cleveland State’s Gates claims Coach of the Year for the second-straight season after leading the Vikings to a share of the regular season title for the first time since 2010-11 and the No. 1 overall seed heading into the Horizon League Basketball Championship for the first time in program history. CSU was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll but ended the season with a 16-4 mark in Horizon League play including a 9-0 start to the HL season. Gates becomes the eighth coach in HL history to win back-to-back Coach of the Year honors.
Love is joined on the All-Horizon League first team by Cleveland State’s Torrey Patton, Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis, Jalen Moore of Oakland and Tanner Holden of Wright State. Patton was the offensive spark for the Vikings averaging 15.3 points per game during HL games, including a 33-point game against the Titans, and shot 48.3 percent from the floor while also grabbing 7.5 rebounds. Davis, is a first team selection for the third-straight year and once again ended the regular season as the Horizon League’s leading scorer with 23.3, good for third in the country, while also ranking top-10 in the NCAA in 3-pointers made per game and free-throw percentage. Moore leads the nation in assists at 8.4 per game and also ranks third in the League in scoring at 17.8 points after totaling nine 20-point games, 11 double-digit assist efforts and nine double-doubles against Horizon League opponents. Holden joins teammate Love on the first team after averaging 15.8 points on 52.3 percent shooting for the Raiders, who are currently ranked 16th in the country in scoring offense, and also recorded 7.2 rebounds.
The All-Horizon League Second Team is comprised of Green Bay’s Amari Davis, IUPUI’s Marcus Burk, Trevon Faulkner of Northern Kentucky, Grant Basile of Wright State and Youngstown State’s Naz Bohannon. The All-Horizon League Third Team includes Bul Kuol of Detroit Mercy, Milwaukee’s Te’Jon Lucas, Northern Kentucky’s Warrick, Daniel Oladapo of Oakland and Jarred Godfrey of Purdue Fort Wayne.
Warrick is joined on the All-Freshman Team by Lucas Stieber of Green Bay, Micah Parrish and Trey Townsend of Oakland and Youngstown State’s Shemar Rathan-Mayes. Joining Gomillion and Love on the All-Defensive Team are Deante Johnson of Cleveland State, Wright State’s Tim Finke and Youngstown State’s Garrett Covington.
The 2021 Horizon League Basketball Championships will begin Feb. 25 and March 2 at campus sites and eight teams – four men and four women – will look to advance to Indianapolis and #REACHtheHORIZON on March 8-9 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
For complete information on the 2021 Horizon League Basketball Championships, please go to
HorizonLeague.com/Indy.
2020-21 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Award Winners
Player of the Year: Loudon Love, Wright State
Coach of the Year: Dennis Gates, Cleveland State
Freshman of the Year: Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Defensive Player of the Year: Tre Gomillion, Cleveland State
Sixth Player of the Year: Matt Johnson, Detroit Mercy
All-League First Team (alphabetical by school)
Torrey Patton, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Jalen Moore, Oakland
Tanner Holden, Wright State
Loudon Love, Wright State
All-League Second Team (alphabetical by school)
Amari Davis, Green Bay
Marcus Burk, IUPUI
Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
Grant Basile, Wright State
Naz Bohannon, Youngstown State
All-League Third Team (alphabetical by school)
Bul Kuol, Detroit Mercy
Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Daniel Oladapo, Oakland
Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
All-Freshman Team (alphabetical by school)
Lucas Stieber, Green Bay
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Micah Parrish, Oakland
Trey Townsend, Oakland
Shemar Rathan-Mayes, Youngstown State
All-Defensive Team (alphabetical by school)
Tre Gomillion, Cleveland State
Deante Johnson, Cleveland State
Tim Finke, Wright State
Loudon Love, Wright State
Garrett Covington, Youngstown State