Roderick Flemings and Kareen Nitoto of the University of Hawai‘i men’s basketball team earned awards on the Western Athletic Conference post-season teams. The WAC announcement comes on the heels of Hawai‘i’s 70-59 loss to New Mexico State, Saturday night at
Roderick Flemings and Kareen Nitoto of the University of Hawai‘i men’s basketball team earned awards on the Western Athletic Conference post-season teams.
The WAC announcement comes on the heels of Hawai‘i’s 70-59 loss to New Mexico State, Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center on O‘ahu.
Flemings, a junior forward, was named to the all-WAC second team as well as to the all-newcomer team while sophomore Nitoto earned a spot on the all-defensive team.
During WAC play, Flemings led the league in minutes played at 37.1 and was among the leaders in WAC play for scoring (15.8 ppg), steals (1.44 spg) and offensive rebounding (2.19 rpg).
The junior college transfer from Weatherford College in Texas scored in double digits in 15 of 16 league games and recorded two of his team-high five double-double in WAC play. He also scored 20 or more points four times in WAC games, including a high of 27 points at New Mexico State.
Earlier this week, Flemings was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 6 second team.
The all-defense team position is the first all-WAC honor for Nitoto. At 6-2, the guard from Berkeley, Calif., was key in a Hawai‘i squad that finished third in the league in scoring defense (64.1 ppg).
Nitoto, who ranks second on the team with 31 steals, often spearheaded Hawai‘i’s efforts in his role as the team’s best on-ball defender, states a release from UH.
This is the fourth straight year that Hawai‘i has placed a player on the all-defensive team as Nitoto joins Matt Gibson (2007-08) and Ahmet Gueye (2005-06, ‘06-07).
Utah State senior forward Gary Wilkinson, the only repeat all-WAC honoree from last season, was voted the WAC’s Player of the Year. Nevada forward Luke Babbitt became the second straight Wolf Pack player to earn the WAC’s Freshman of the Year award while Utah State head coach Stew Morrill earned his first Don Haskins Coach of the Year honor by leading the Aggies to its second straight regular season WAC title.
Selections to the WAC postseason awards were made by the league’s nine head coaches and announced Sunday.
Flemings, Nitoto and the Rainbow Warriors head to the 2009 WAC Tournament March 10-14 at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, where the No. 8 seeded ‘Bows take on No. 9 Fresno State in opening round action starting at 7:30 p.m. PST (4:30 HST) March 10.
