Bennington and Johnson Selected All-Region

Dakota Bennington and Josh Johnson were two of 15 players named All-Central Region by D3Hoops.com. The pair were the only two representatives of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.

Dakota Bennington became only the fifth Eureka men's basketball player ever to receive D3Hoops.com's All-Region honors. The senior was named All-Central Region Third Team, joining Craig Negangard (2004 All-Midwest Region Third Team), Michael Zasada (2010 All-Midwest Region Second Team) and Mark Lessen (2013 All-Midwest Region Second Team) and Shea Feehan (2018 All-Central Region Second Team and 2017 All-Central Region Third Team), as Red Devils to earn All-Region honors from D3hoops.com.

This season, Bennington was named a First Team All-SLIAC selection for the second year in a row after leading the league in scoring with 24.8 points per game while shooting 53.2 percent from the field. He scored the most total points (621), made the most field goals (235 of 440) and the most free throws (110 of 140) of anyone in the league and was fifth in the league in steals with 47. His points per game (24.8), steals per game (1.9), blocks per game (1.1) and field-goal percentage (37.3) were all career-best marks, and he also contributed 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

Bennington also put himself in the EC record book in the single-season division. His scoring average (24.8) was the third-highest since 1978 and the highest of anyone save Feehan. With 621 points, he tallied just seven fewer than he did last season despite playing three fewer games, placing him fifth in points in a single season. He was also fifth in program history in field goals made with (235), seventh in field goals attempted (449) and ninth in free throws made (110).

Josh Johnson, a senior guard at Webster University, continued to rake in postseason accolades as he was named Second-Team All-Central Region. Johnson becomes the first Gorlok men's basketball player to earn a spot on the D3Hoops.com All-Central Region Team since the organization began its postseason awards program in 2002. Earlier in the week, Johnson was named to the NABC Second-Team All-District Team from the Central Region. In addition to earning All-Region honors from both the NABC and D3Hoops.com, Johnson was also named the SLIAC Player of the Year and a repeat First-Team All-SLIAC selection this season.
 
Johnson averaged 18.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game during the recently completed 2019-20 campaign. On the year, Johnson shot 44 percent from the field, 42 percent from the 3-point line and a team-best 86 percent at the free-throw line and scored in double figures in 24 of 26 games and ended the year with 11 consecutive games of scoring in double figures and tallied eight games of scoring 20 or more points, including three games of scoring 30 or more points.
 
The 6-foot guard closed out his Webster career in 2019-20 scoring 1,255 points, which is fifth on the school's all-time scoring chart and is one of just eight players in the program's history to score 1,200 career points. In addition to finishing fifth in career scoring, Johnson holds the school's all-time mark for free throw percentage (86.6 percent), was third in career made free throws (279), fourth in career made 3-pointers (166), fifth in career free throw attempts (332), 3-point field goal attempts (419) and starts (74) and is sixth in career scoring average (15.7 ppg) and 10th in career assists (236). Additionally, he is one of just four players in school history to score 450 or more points in a season in back-to-back years as he scored 483 points this season and tallied 450 points as a junior in 2018-19.
 
Johnson helped lead the Gorloks to a 19-9 overall record, back-to-back regular-season SLIAC titles, a SLIAC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2014 and just the fifth time in school history in 2019-20.

Players were nominated for the D3hoops.com All-Region Teams by sports information directors at Division III institutions. There were more than 769 players nominated nationwide. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region. It's the 19th season D3hoops.com has named All-Region teams.
 
D3Hoops.com All-Central Region Teams

First Team
Jack Rhode, Jr., G, Elmhurst
Carter Voelker, Sr., G, Wisconsin-Platteville
Jack Nolan, Jr., G, Washington University in St. Louis
Connor Raridon, Sr., F, North Central (Ill.)
Adam Fravert, Sr., F, Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Second Team
Trent Jones, Sr., G, Ripon (Wis.)
Josh Johnson, Sr., G, Webster
Andrew Bruggink, Sr., G, Wisconsin-Lutheran
Matt Cappelletti, Sr., F, North Central (Ill.)
Jack Flynn, Sr., C, Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Third-Team
Dakota Bennington, Sr., G, Eureka
Nyameye Adom, Jr., G, Wheaton (Ill.)
Eric Grygo, Sr., F, Benedictine (Ill.)
Equan Ards, Jr., F, Wisconsin-Whitewater
Max Hisatake, Sr., C, Illinois Tech