PORTLAND, Ore. – Throughout the 2021-22 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball season, few teams had a dynamic duo in the backcourt quite like Montana State University Billings' Carrington Wiggins and Damen Thacker.
 
Given how the GNAC all-conference awards shook out, opposing coaches think so too.
 
Junior guard Carrington Wiggins was a unanimous first team all-conference selection and was named the 2021-22 GNAC Newcomer of the Year, whereas senior guard Damen Thacker earned all-conference honorable mention honors on Tuesday. With the exception of the 2020-21 season (in which the GNAC didn't have a regular season), this year marks the sixth in a row that MSUB has had multiple all-conference selections.
 
"Our guards have been the backbone of our team all year, and it's great to see them rewarded," MSUB head coach Mick Durham said.
 
In particular, Wiggins's awards marks a few firsts for the MSUB men's basketball player. Wiggins is not only the first player under head coach Mick Durham to earn first-team all-conference honors, but also the first 'Jacket to win first-team all-conference and newcomer of the year honors since Antoine Proctor achieved the same feat in 2011-12.
 
"Carrington's covid-redshirt year last year really helped him being around the program and have an outstanding first year in the GNAC," Durham said. "I'm excited to see him named the Newcomer of the Year in our league."
 
Leading MSUB with 17.5 points per game, Wiggins is the GNAC's sixth-leading scorer and ranks 14^th in the league by making 48.7% of his field goals. The Mott Community College transfer wasted no time getting adapted to Division II basketball: Wiggins scored in double-figures in 24 out of 27 games, had eight 20-point outings, two 30-point games and was second in the conference with 473 total points.
 
The Flint, Mich. native is coming off of a red-hot February, in which he has averaged 18.1 points per game and earned his first-career GNAC Player of the Week award.
 
Starting off the month at eventual GNAC regular-season champion Saint Martin's, Wiggins dropped a collegiate-career-high 34 points against the Saints on 12-for-18 shooting in an 80-69 romp. Then against Western Washington on Feb. 14, he made his first seven shots, finished 11-for-12 from the field and dropped 28 points in MSUB's biggest win of the season. Then against the Vikings in the rematch, Wiggins and Brent Finn willed the game to overtime; he finished with eight of MSUB's final 12 points in regulation, then had five more in extra time before finishing with a game-high 31 points.
 
Gifted with an array of crafty finishes at the rim, a proclivity for drawing fouls and an effective outside shot, Wiggins is one of the premier three-level scorers in the league. His single-game highs this season are 34 points (at Saint Martin's), 11 rebounds (vs. Central Washington), five assists (vs. Northwest Nazarene), six steals (vs. South Dakota Mines), 12 made field goals (at Saint Martin's) and five made threes (twice).
 
Defensively, Wiggins tied Thacker for the team-best at 1.3 steals per game – all while both being tasked with guarding opponents' best perimeter players. Their six-steals apiece against South Dakota Mines on Nov. 27 are tied for the 12^th most in a single game in MSUB history.
 
Thacker, meanwhile, rounded out MSUB's all-conference winners by earning honorable mention honors. The senior guard from the University of Idaho is the conference's ninth-leading scorer and assister, averaging 15.3 points and 3.4 assists per game, respectively. He is also the fourth-best free-throw shooter, making 92 of his 108 attempts (85.2%), which is the 10^th-most-accurate single-season mark in program history.
 
A stat-line stuffer, Thacker has shown a knack for drawing fouls, a solid mid-range game and is one of the more athletic guards in the league.
 
The senior guard has had a hand in nearly every game this season: To open conference play, he notched a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double at Northwest Nazarene and made the game-tying layup in regulation. Two days later, Thacker followed that up with a 26-point, 6-rebound, three assist night against Central Washington.
 
Lately, he scored 30 points – seven of which came in overtime – at Western Oregon before pouring in 25 points on seven made threes at Alaska Anchorage several days later. He surpassed 2,000 collegiate career points at Western Washington in his 20-point night on Feb. 14, then had yet another big night against Central Washington last week with 30 points on 11-for-19 shooting.
 
Like Wiggins, Thacker has been one of MSUB's leading scorers this year. He was the Yellowjackets' leading scorer in 10 of the 27 games, finished in double-figures in 20 games and has had five 20-point games plus two 30-point games so far. He has single-game highs of 30 points (twice), 11 rebounds (vs. Northwest Nazarene), eight assists (at Western Oregon), six steals (vs. South Dakota Mines), 11 made field goals (at Central Washington) and seven made threes (at Alaska Anchorage).
 
Rounding out the all-conference honorees, Central Washington's Xavier Smith was named the GNAC Player of the Year, Tru Allen of Northwest Nazarene was named Freshman of the Year, Western Washington's D'Angelo Minnis was named Defensive Player of the Year and Saint Martin's head coach Aaron Landon was named the conference's coach of the year.
 
UP NEXT: Wiggins, Thacker and the Yellowjackets will take on 5-seed Central Washington University in the quarterfinals of the GNAC Championships, held at the Saint Martin's University campus in Lacey, Wash. this Thursday at 5:15 p.m. PT. Livestream and live stat links can be found on the men's basketball schedule page at msubsports.com, and tickets can either be purchased online or at the door.