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Colorado State took two of the top honors from the media of the Mountain West Conference, as senior guard Gian Clavell was honored as the league’s Player of the Year, while Larry Eustachy was recognized as the Coach of the Year. Along with this duo, senior forward Emmanuel Omogbo was named First Team All-MW along with Clavell and sophomore guard Prentiss Nixon was honorable mention.
Clavell led the Mountain West in league scoring at 21.2 points per game, including two games of 30 points or more, as well as ranking seventh in rebounding at 6.9 per MW game. The Puerto Rico native tallied a career-high 37 points, with 30 in the second half and the game-winning layup with 3.8 seconds to play, at San Diego State. Clavell also was second in steals (1.8 spg) and 3-pointers made (3.1 3pg) and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.409). He has scored in double figures in all 16 Mountain West games and 21 of 22 games played overall, averaging better than 19 points a game this season.
Eustachy led the Rams to a 21-10 overall record, 13-5 in the Mountain West and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming MW tournament. The 13 wins tied the program record for conference wins, while CSU also set a new school mark with five consecutive league road wins in a single season. Under his leadership, Colorado State also won seven straight conference games, also a new program record for consecutive Mountain West victories.
Omogbo became the new standard for double-doubles in the Mountain West this season, recording a new league record with 13 during conference action. He led the conference in rebounding at 10.9 boards per conference game and ranked 11th in scoring at 15.7 points a contest. He was also third in league field goal percentage, hitting .495 of his shot attempts, and tied for eighth at 1.3 steals per game. The senior scored a career-high 24 points, with 17 coming in the final half, in the win at San Diego State, Jan. 28. Recently, he hit a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left for the game-winner over San Diego State, Feb. 25. For his CSU career, Omogbo now has 26 double-doubles, which is eighth all-time on the MW career list.
Nixon ranked among the top players in the league in scoring at 13.3 points per game, ranking 17th. Overall, he has scored in double figures in 22 games, including a streak of eight, including a career-high 30 points against Kansas State. Nixon connected on a three-pointer with 3.6 seconds to play to give CSU a 78-76 win over Wyoming, Feb. 28, part of his team-best 23-point effort. He has also been stellar on the defensive end of the floor, drawing a team-high 31 charges/offensive fouls this season and creating 22 steals, fourth on the team.
Colorado State will play its first game of the 2017 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday, March 9 in Las Vegas. The Rams will play at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center against the winner of Wednesday’s No. 7 Wyoming/No. 10 Air Force game. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. It will also air across the Colorado State Sports Network, including flagship KARS 102.9 FM, with Brian Roth on the play-by-play and Adam Nigon handling the analysis.