BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced the 2016-17 Men's Basketball All-Conference team and player of the year awards on Thursday. Augustana's Jordan Spencer (First Team) and Mike Busack (Second Team) were named to the All-NSIC team.
 
Spencer, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard from Milton Keynes, England, is making his third straight appearance on the All-NSIC Team. Spencer earned second team honors as a freshman and sophomore and is now a first team selection. He was also named the NSIC Freshman of the Year in 2014-15. Spencer currently leads the Vikings in scoring averaging 15.9 points per game. He has dished out 214 assists in 2016-17 which leads the NSIC and ranks third nationally.
 
Spencer has scored 10 or more points in 25 of 29 games this season, while dishing out five or more assists 25 times. He is also averaging 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while ranking third in the conference with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.9. Spencer is the career active NCAA Division II leader in assists with 660. He is one of just six active players in NCAA basketball (Division I, II or III) with 1,000-plus career points and 600-plus assists. Spencer is just 15 assists shy of becoming Augustana's all-time leader.
 
Busack, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound forward from Belview, Minnesota, is making his first appearance on the All-NSIC team, earning second team honors. Busack, who joined Augustana as a graduate student after playing three seasons at Minnesota State, Mankato, has had a career year for the Vikings. Busack ranks second on the team and 12th in the NSIC in scoring averaging 15.8 points per game while leading the Vikings and ranking seventh in the league averaging 6.9 rebounds per game. He has scored in double-digits in 25 of 29 games while leading the team with five double-doubles. Busasck is shooting 46.3 percent from the field in 2016-17 and has hit a team-high 70 3-pointers while shooting 40 percent from behind the arc.
 
Aaron Lien of MSU Moorhead was named the league's player of the year. Upper Iowa's Jordan Hay was named defensive player of the year and Minnesota Crookston's Harrison Cleary freshman of the year. Logan Doyle of Northern State was named newcomer of the year and Southwest Minnesota State head coach Brad Bigler was named coach of the year.
 
Augustana (22-7) is currently ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Central Region rankings and is the No. 3 seed in the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament. The Vikings picked up a 74-63 win over North Division No. 6 seed Bemidji State in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday night at the Sanford Pentagon. Augustana advanced to the quarterfinals where it will take on North Division No. 2 seed Northern State at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Sanford Pentagon.