CHICAGO (February 27, 2018) – Clayton Custer (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest/Iowa State) was named First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference and four other Loyola University Chicago men's basketball players were recognized on All-MVC teams, which were revealed today by the league office. Voting for the awards was conducted by MVC coaches, sports information directors and media. Loyola's five All-MVC honors mark the most since joining the league in 2013-14.
 
Custer had a sensational season despite missing five games with an ankle injury, averaging 14.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting at a 54.4 percent (129-for-237) clip from the field and a 46.2 percent mark (46-for-104) from three-point territory. The redshirt junior guard has led the Ramblers to a remarkable 23-2 record when he is in the lineup this season and has scored in double figures on 22 occasions, five times topping the 20-point plateau. Since his return from injury, Custer has sparked Loyola to a 14-1 record, putting up 15.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 4.3 apg and 1.9 spg, and connecting on 55.9 percent (85-for-152) of his field goal attempts and 50 percent (35-for-70) of his three-point tries.
 
Senior Donte Ingram (Chicago, Ill./Simeon), was named to the All-MVC Second Team after earning Third Team All-MVC accolades a year ago. The 6-foot-6 guard/forward, who has a knack for hitting a big bucket when the Ramblers need it most, averaged 11.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 1.6 apg, shooting 45 percent (121-for-269) from the field and 38.9 percent (58-for-149) from beyond the arc. Ingram, who is one of only 19 players in Loyola history to rack up over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career, scored in double digits on 19 occasions this season, pouring in 25 points in a victory over Southern Illinois on January 17. He notched three double-doubles in 2017-18 and was named co-MVP of the Savannah Invitational.
 
Center Cameron Krutwig (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs) took home a handful of awards, being selected collecting All-MVC Third Team, MVC All-Freshman Team and MVC All-Newcomer Team recognition. The 6-foot-9 freshman had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in Loyola history, averaging 10.8 ppg and 6.5 rpg, while sinking 60.3 percent (126-for-209) of his field goal attempts. He has taken his game to a whole different level since the start of the new year, scoring 10 or more points in 12 of the last 13 contests. His play was a key to Loyola's 65-59 victory at No. 5 Florida on December 6 as he pitched in 14 points and eight rebounds and he notched the first double-double by a Rambler freshman since 2014 when he totaled season highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds versus Bradley on January 13.
 
In addition to Krutwig, Loyola also placed guard Lucas Williamson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) on the MVC All-Freshman Team. The 6-foot-4 guard has put up 4.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.0 apg and 0.9 spg this season, while appearing in all 30 contests, making five starts. Williamson has scored in double figures four times, netting a season-best 14 points in a victory over UIC on December 2. In addition to being an effective shooter, hitting 45.8 percent (27-for-59) of his three-point tries, Williamson also is a solid defender, whom produced one of the more memorable defensive plays this season, by running the length of the floor and swatting away a shot in the closing seconds that would have that would have cut the Ramblers lead to two in an eventual 56-50 win at UNI.
 
After being vastly underrated as a defender for his first three seasons in a Rambler uniform, senior Ben Richardson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) was hailed on the MVC All-Defensive Team. The 6-foot-3 guard routinely draws the task of guarding the opposing team's top perimeter scorer and this season averaged 1.1 steals per game to go with 6.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 3.7 apg, despite missing 10 games with a broken hand.
 
Loyola finished a historic regular season with a 25-5 overall record and a 15-3 mark in Valley play en route to its first outright conference championship since 1984-85. The 15 conference wins established a new school record and the Ramblers also ranked among the national leaders in field goal percentage (2^nd - .514), and three-point field goal percentage (12^th - .407), while ranking seventh in the nation in scoring defense (63.4 ppg).
 
The top-seeded Ramblers open play at the 2018 MVC Championship on Friday, March 2, at noon, when they face the winner of the No. 8 Evansville versus No. 9 UNI game.
 
The complete list of MVC award winners follows.
 
All-MVC First Team
Clayton Custer, Loyola
Alize Johnson, Missouri State
Ryan Taylor, Evansville
Reed Timmer, Drake
Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State
 
All-MVC Second Team
Jordan Barnes, Indiana State
Phil Fayne, Illinois State
Armon Fletcher, Southern Illinois
Donte Ingram, Loyola
Donte Thomas, Bradley
 
All-MVC Third Team
Darrell Brown, Bradley
Bennett Koch, UNI
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois
Brenton Scott, Indiana State
 
MVC All-Newcomer Team
Bakari Evelyn, Valparaiso
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
Tywhon Pickford, UNI
Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois
Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State
 
MVC All-Freshman Team
Elijah Childs, Bradley
Tyreke Key, Indiana State
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
Tywhon Pickford, UNI
Lucas Williamson, Loyola
 
All-Defensive Team
Obediah Church, Missouri State
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Bradley
Sean Lloyd, Southern Illinois
Ben Richardson, Loyola
Tevonn Walker, Valparaiso