Bellevue prominent in Frontier Conference award program
HELENA, Mont. -- Four members of the Bellevue University men's basketball team earned postseason recognition Thursday as the Frontier Conference announced its 2025-26 All-Conference teams and individual award winners.
The awards, voted on by the conference's 12 head coaches, recognized a total of four Bellevue players across the first and second teams.
Highlighting the Bruins' selections were senior guards Ahamad Bynum and JJ Montgomery, each of whom secured individual superlative awards. Bynum was honored as the league's Newcomer of the Year while Montgomery was named the Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
In addition to his Newcomer of the Year Award, Bynum was selected as a first team all-conference performer.
Montgomery earned second team all-conference recognition along with senior center RJ Smith and senior guard Jaden Phillips.
Ahamad Bynum (senior, guard) ranks second in the conference in scoring at 19.7 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. His dynamic scoring ability has paced a BU offense which has put up its best offensive season since the 2016-17 Final Four team. His 68 three-pointers made is good for fifth in the league and his 59 assists are good for second on the team and he's knocked down 80.6% of his free throw attempts.
JJ Montgomery (senior, guard) is averaging 9.2 points per game and leads the team with 66 assists and is hitting his free throws at an 80.9% clip. He has been the Bruins' defensive anchor, earning the right to guard the top perimeter player on every team BU has faced. Additionally, he ranks fifth in the NAIA and tops the Frontier Conference in three-point shooting at 50.9% from behind the arc and his 59 made treys rank him in the top 10 in the conference.
RJ Smith (senior, center) is averaging 12.1 points per game and leads the Frontier Conference in rebounding at 8.3 per game. Smith ranks fifth nationally shooting 70.3% from the floor which is good for second in the conference. His 4.2 offensive rebounds per game easily pace the league while his rebounding average is the most by a Bellevue player since the 2012-13 season. He's added 46 assists and 17 blocked shots on the year.
Jaden Phillips (senior, guard) averages 14.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game on the year to go along with 51 assists. He is second on the team with 38 steals, is connecting on over 37% of his three-point attempts, and is shooting 74.8% from the charity stripe. His scoring average is good for 15th in the Frontier Conference and is the highest for a second-leading scorer at BU since 2014-15
The Bruins enter the Frontier Conference Postseason Tournament this weekend as the No. 2 seed after a stellar 17-5 conference campaign that highlighted a 22-6 regular season. For BU it marks the most wins for the program since the 2016-17 team that went 25-11 and reached the NAIA National Semifinals.
Quarterfinal action begins Friday as the Bruins take on Montana State University-Northern at 8:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's semifinal round, also an 8:30 p.m. tip. The championship game will take place at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 2.