CHICAGO (February 27, 2018) – Loyola University Chicago standout Clayton Custer (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest/Iowa State) was named Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and Cameron Krutwig (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs) and Ben Richardson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) also earned MVC specialty awards, which were announced this afternoon by the league office. Voting for the awards was conducted by MVC coaches, sports information directors and media.
 
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) 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.
 
He is the first Rambler ever to earn the Larry Bird Trophy as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and he is the first Rambler since Andre Moore in 1987 to be tabbed as a conference player of the year, regardless of the league. This is just the seventh time a Loyola player has been named conference player of the year.
 
Krutwig was selected as the MVC Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-9 freshman center 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.
 
After being vastly underrated as a defender for his first three seasons in a Rambler uniform, Richardson was hailed as the MVC Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-3 senior 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. He is the first Rambler to earn league defensive player of the year honors.
 
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 specialty award winners follows.
 
MVC Player of the Year
Clayton Custer, Loyola
 
MVC Newcomer of the Year
Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State
 
MVC Freshman of the Year
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
 
MVC Defensive Player of the Year
Ben Richardson, Loyola
 
MVC Sixth Man of the Year
Tyler Smithpeters, Southern Illinois