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MBB All-Conference

Farris named First Team All-RMAC, Boatwright earns Second Team All-RMAC honors

3/4/2021 4:31:00 PM

By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications
RMAC RELEASE

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released the men's basketball All-RMAC Teams on Thursday, with a pair of Skyhawks earning All-RMAC recognition.

The conference major awards, along with All-RMAC First and Second Teams were voted on by the conference's 15 head men's basketball coaches. Coaches could not vote for their own student-athletes. Student-athletes who received one First Team vote or two Second Team votes were named Honorable Mention.

For the second year in a row, senior forward Riley Farris was voted a First Team All-RMAC selection after leading the conference in scoring, while redshirt junior forward Brenden Boatwright earned Second Team All-RMAC honors after cementing himself as one of the best big men in the conference during the 2020-21 season.

"I'm happy for our program that we had multiple players get recognition. Obviously, Riley is a First Team player, led the league in scoring and really had a tremendous offensive season," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "We're very proud of Boatwright. He's a young man who has done everything right in his career, grown up in the program and is starting to blossom into what we all knew he could be and that's an All-Conference player."

Farris, who was also named a First Team All-Academic selection earlier in the day Thursday, continued to prove himself as one of the most prolific scorers in NCAA Division II basketball during the 2020-21 season.

The native of Hutto, Texas led the RMAC in scoring at 21.8 points per game — finished second in scoring in 2019-20 at 23.9 points per game — and ranked sixth in the conference in rebounding at a career-best 7.1 boards per contest.

Farris is set to return to the Skyhawks for the 2021-22 season, taking advantage of the NCAA season-of-competition waiver due the Covid-19 pandemic. He currently ranks sixth all-time in scoring (1,538 points), sixth in career blocks (86), seventh in career field goals (568), ninth in made free throws (289), 20th in made 3-pointers (113) and 22nd in career rebounding (461).

"Riley is simply one of the most talented offensive centers to ever play in the RMAC and I mean that with respect to so many great players," Pietrack said. "His consistency over a long period of time has just been tremendous. He plays at such an efficient rate and we're thankful he is going to come back on our quest to win another RMAC title next year."

Completing the dynamic duo inside for the Skyhawks this winter was Boatwright, who averaged career highs across the board in 2020-21.

The 6'9 redshirt junior out of Carlsbad, New Mexico averaged 11.1 points — nearly double his previous career-high of 6.8 during the 2018-19 season — and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

Since being inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 19, Boatwright's averages jump to 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds while scoring double-figures in 13 straight games to conclude the 2020-21 season. All while shooting 56.6% from the floor and a team-best 88.5% at the free-throw line.

"Boatwright is a junk yard dog. He led us, defensively, in the back line and was very consistent, offensively," Pietrack said. "But why we're so proud of Boat is because he didn't get anything handed to him here at Fort Lewis. He had to earn it. He worked and never complained about anything. All the success he gets he has earned. It's exciting as coaches to watch a homegrown guy like that go through all the processes, all the different stages of a career, to finally be recognized as an All-Conference player. And he has two more years to go, so who knows how good Boatwright can get."

The Skyhawks will welcome both players back into the fold in 2021-22 and are enticed by an offseason to draw up new offensive and defensive schemes around their two All-RMAC forwards.

"I think Boatwright and Farris rely on each other. They each bring different things and skill sets to the table. But playing them together allowed them to excel at what they do," Pietrack said. "We made a conscious decision after the Colorado Christian game that we needed to get both those big fellas on the floor. Once Farris decided he was going to come back next year using the season-of-competition waiver, we knew we needed to pivot and play a little bit different because we had two All-RMAC caliber forwards. We changed what we were doing a little bit and that's what people are going to see a lot more of next year. We need both of them on the floor and we're excited about an offseason of thinking of different ways we can use them together."
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