COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Led by a first-team selection for senior guard Zy Wright, Chadron State men's basketball had three players earn recognition with the release of the RMAC's all-conference teams on Thursday. 

In addition to Wright, graduate student guard Jalen Thomas was named to the league's second team while senior forward Julio Phipps earned honorable mention. It is the first career all-RMAC recognition for all three players, with Wright and Thomas earning their honors in their first years in the league. 

A total of 10 players from the RMAC's 15 institutions were chosen to both the first team and the second team, selected by a vote of the league's head coaches. Chadron State was one of eight RMAC teams to have multiple all-conference picks across the first and second teams. 

Zy Wright earns first-team honors after averaging 14 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game to lead the Eagles in both categories, ranking 13^th in the RMAC in scoring and eighth in the league in rebounding. The Lincolnton, Georgia native won two RMAC Offensive Player of the Week awards on December 16 and March 3.

Wright had seven 20-point games this season, including in each of the final two regular season games of the year as Chadron State clinched a spot in the RMAC Tournament. Wright scored a career-high 34 points in an overtime loss to New Mexico Highlands and added 28 points against Fort Lewis and three separate 24-point outings. 

Wright added three double-doubles on the season and pulled down eight rebounds or more in 11 different games. The senior shot 45 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from three and 79.5 percent from the line this season. 

Wright is Chadron State's first first-team selection since Josh Robinson in 2022-23, just the third since the year 2000 and just the ninth in program history. 

Jalen Thomas earns a second-team selection after emerging as one of the most well-rounded players in the league. The Amarillo, Texas native averaged 13.6 points per game, ranking 15^th in the RMAC, but was also among the RMAC leaderboards in assists (second, 4.1 per game), rebounds (19^th, 4.9 per game), field goal percentage (eighth, .495) and free throw percentage (fourth, .862). 

Thomas often got the call to take the game's biggest shots down the stretch, including a buzzer-beating midrange jumper to defeat Fort Lewis that officially clinched Chadron State a spot in the RMAC Tournament. Like Wright, Thomas won two RMAC Offensive Player of the Week awards this season, in back-to-back weeks on February 10 and 17.

He recorded 12 assists in a game against Adams State and 11 against Central Christian, which are the top two highest single-game performances by an RMAC player this year, with the 12 assists being the second-most in a single game in Chadron State program history. 

Julio Phipps earns an honorable mention selection to cap a breakout season. Phipps is averaging 10.1 points per game, nearly quadrupling his scoring average of 2.6 from a year ago and is the team's second-leading rebounder at 5.2 boards per game. Phipps is shooting 54.2 percent from the field and recorded 21 blocks this season. 

This season marks the third straight season CSC men's basketball has placed multiple players on the league's first and second teams after Bryce Latimer and Josh Robinson were each second-team selections last season and Latimer and Isaiah Wyatt were second team picks while Robinson was a first team selection two years ago. 

Colorado School of Mines's Majok Deng was named the RMAC Player of the Year while Orediggers coach Pryor Orser was named the league's Coach of the Year after leading the Orediggers to a regular season championship. UCCS's William Becker was named the Defensive Player of the Year while Freshman of the Year honors went to Black Hills State's Cam Lowe.