Northwest Notes

Idaho’s Sanders named

first-team all-Big Sky;

EWU’s Wiley tabbed MVP

OGDEN, Utah — Idaho junior guard Victor Sanders earned All-Big Sky first team honors, as chosen by the league’s coaches.

Eastern Washington senior Jacob Wiley, a graduate transfer from Newport, Wash., was named Most Valuable Player.

Sanders is averaging 21.6 points per game this season, third in the conference. His 24.4 points per game average in Big Sky games is second best. Sanders became the 16th Vandal to top 1,000 career points and currently sits in 12th in program history with 1,149.

He was a second-team pick last year.

Wiley is EWU’s third player in 30 years in the Big Sky to earn MVP honors, joining Alvin Snow (2004) and Rodney Stuckey (2006). After graduating in 2012 from Newport High, Wiley started his career at Montana and played two seasons at Lewis-Clark State before transferring for his senior season at EWU.

He enters this week’s conference tournament averaging 20.0 points per game overall to rank 38th in NCAA Division I and sixth in the Big Sky, and has made 63.9 percent of his shots to rank seventh in the nation and second in the league. He leads the league in rebounding (9.2) and blocked shots (2.8). In league-only statistics, he averaged 24.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots while making 65.9 percent of field goal attempts and 81.7 of his free throws. He also averaged 2.6 assists and 0.6 steals in 18 league games.

EWU’s Bogdan Bliznyuk was selected to the All-Big Sky second team after earning the league’s Freshman of the Year honor two seasons ago.

The Vandals face Montana on Thursday at 2:35 p.m. in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament in Reno. Eastern will face either Sacramento State or Idaho State on Thursday at 5:35 p.m.

ALL-BIG SKY MEN

FIRST TEAM — Jacob Wiley, Sr., Eastern Washington; Tyler Hall, So., Montana State; Quinton Hooker, Sr., North Dakota; Jeremy Senglin, Sr., Weber State; Victor Sanders, Jr., Idaho.

SECOND TEAM — Bogdan Bliznyuk, Jr., Eastern Washington; Geno Crandall, So., North Dakota; Ahmaad Rorie, So., Montana; Randy Onwuasor, Jr., Southern Utah; Justin Strings, Jr., Sacramento State.

THIRD TEAM — Jordan Davis, So., Northern Colorado; Harald Frey, Fr., Montana State; Jordyn Martin, Sr., Northern Arizona; De’Sean Parsons, Sr., Portland State; Michael Oguine, So., Montana.

MVP — Jacob Wiley, Sr., Eastern Washington

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR — Randy Onwuasor, Jr., Southern Utah

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR — Harald Frey, Fr., Montana State

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR — Jonah Radebaugh, Fr., Northern Colorado

TOP RESERVE — Cortez Seales, So., North Dakota

WSU’s Hawkinson, Flynn

pick up Pac-12 honors

SAN FRANCISCO — Washington State senior Josh Hawkinson was named to the All-Pac-12 second team and freshman Malachi Flynn was named Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention, the conference announced.

Hawkinson will conclude his Washington State career as the school’s career record holder for rebounds and double-doubles as he currently has 1,003 rebounds and 55 double-doubles.

Flynn leads the Cougars and ranks 14th in the Pac-12 with 58 made 3-pointers this season. He also ranks ninth amongst Pac-12 freshmen for points per game (10.1), seventh for assists per game (2.9) and 13th for steals per game (0.7).

WSU opens Pac-12 Conference tourney play Wednesday vs. Colorado at 6 p.m. in Las Vegas.

ALL-PAC-12

FIRST TEAM — Bryce Alford, sr., G, UCLA; Lonzo Ball, fr., G, UCLA; Dillon Brooks, jr., F, Oregon; Markelle Fultz, fr., G, Washington; Kyle Kuzma, jr., F, Utah; TJ Leaf, fr., F, UCLA; Lauri Markkanen, fr., F, Arizona; Ivan Rabb, so., F, California; Reid Travis, jr., F, Stanford; Derrick White, sr., G, Colorado.

SECOND TEAM — Kadeem Allen, sr., G, Arizona; Jordan Bell, jr., F, Oregon; Josh Hawkinson, sr., F, Washington State; Chimezie Metu, so., F, USC; Allonzo Trier, so., G, Arizona.

HONORABLE MENTION — Jabari Bird, sr., G, California; Chris Boucher, sr., F, Oregon; Tyler Dorsey, so., G, Oregon; Drew Eubanks, so., F, Oregon State; Torian Graham, sr., G, Arizona State; Jordan McLaughlin, jr., G, USC; Thomas Welsh, jr., F, UCLA.

ALL-FRESHMEN TEAM — Rawle Alkins, G, Arizona; Lonzo Ball, G, UCLA; Markelle Fultz, G, Washington; TJ Leaf, F, UCLA; Lauri Markkanen, F, Arizona. Honorable mention: Malachi Flynn, G, Washington State; Charlie Moore, G, California.

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM — Kadeem Allen, sr., G, Arizona; Marcus Allen, sr., G, Stanford; Jordan Bell, jr., F, Oregon; Chris Boucher, sr., F, Oregon; Derrick White, sr., G, Colorado. Honorable mention: Lonzo Ball, fr., G, UCLA; Aaron Holiday, so., G, UCLA; Kyle Kuzma, jr., F, Utah; De’Anthony Melton, fr., G, USC; Kingsley Okoroh, jr., C, California.