Ankeny natives Carson Johnson and Luke Winkel have both been named to the all-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference first team, the league office announced on Thursday. They were the only two freshmen among the 12 men’s basketball players on the first team.
Johnson, a former Ankeny star, earned the honor despite playing in only 17 games for MSU Moorhead this season. Initially expected to redshirt, he was thrust into action due to injury and no doubt made his presence known league wide.
Johnson averaged a team-high 19 points per game, sinking 43.5 percent of his field goal attempts. He tallied 58 assists and 51 rebounds and was truly deadly from long range, draining 45 3-pointers at an eye-opening 40.9 percent rate.
Johnson scored 20 or more points on eight different occasions during the season, headlined by a 42-point output against Winkel’s St. Cloud State team on Feb. 1. He set the single-game school record for points scored by a freshman in the Dragon victory with the point total being the highest tally in a single game since 1996.
Winkel, meanwhile, led the Huskies in scoring after averaging 13.1 points while shooting 40.7 percent from the field, 38.8 percent from 3, and 80 percent from the free-throw line. With a tight handle and crafty knack for scoring, the former Ankeny Centennial standout was consistently able to create space and get to his spots in the mid-range, while also being able to knock down a 3. His 38 3-pointers were the second most on the team.
Because of his ability to break down the defense and force a help defender, Winkel excelled in reading the defense and finding the open man with his 4.0 assists per game, which was the sixth most in the conference. His craftiness also extended to the defensive end where he nabbed 1.4 steals per game.
In the game against MSU Moorhead when Johnson scored 42 points, Winkel also set a career-high of 28 points on an efficient 10-of-20 shooting while making three treys and going 5-of-8 from the line. He also dished out a career-high of eight assists and grabbed five rebounds.