Dan Fotu, sophomore at St Mary’s College, California
Starting his eighth straight game Dan Fotu had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and a pair of steals as St Marys beat Loyola Marymount 73-62 to move to 5-2 in the West Coast Conference. Fotu shot a perfect 4 from 4 from the field and added a free-throw in his third double figure haul of the season.
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa, freshman at Sacramento State University
Izayah Le’afa had a shooting night to forget in Sacramento State’s 66-55 home win against Portland State. He missed all seven of his shots from the floor but his effort was highly evident in other areas finishing with a game high 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Yanni Wetzell, senior at San Diego State University
San Diego remained the only unbeaten team in Men’s NCAA Division I basketball with their 21st straight win of the season to beat the programme record of 20-0 set in 2010-11. Yanni Wetzell went for 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the 71-67 win against UNLV in Vegas. A couple of days earlier they beat Wyoming 72-55 with Wetzell scoring in double figures for the sixth straight game. He finished with 14 points (6/8FG) and added 2 rebounds, 5 assists and a block.
Matt Freeman, senior at UC Santa Barbara
Matt Freeman came off the bench for UC Santa Barbara in the Gauchos 83-75 loss to CSUN. The former Westlake man came up with a solid 8 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Santa Barbara have slipped to 1-3 in the Big West Conference.
Sam Waardenburg, junior at University of Miami
Miami had a notable win against Virginia Tech prevailing 71-61 to improve to 3-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Waardenburg put together 9 points, 6 rebounds an assist and a steal in 33 minutes.
Bubbling under
Taki Fahrensohn scored 11 points (3/9 3PG) on his return to the Portland lineup having missed the previous three games with a leg injury. A depleted Pilots outfit were beaten on the road 77-65 by Loyola Marymount.
Jackson Stent had 4 points and 4 rebounds for Houston Baptist in a 102-89 loss to McNeese. Houston are struggling in the Southland Conference with just one win in 8 games.
There was joy for Matt Freeman and disappointment for Callum McRae and Angus McWilliam as University California Santa Barbara beat University California Riverside 65-63 in a Big West Conference thriller.
All three Kiwis played their part as Santa Barbara broke a three-game losing stretch to improve to 2-3 in conference play. Matt Freeman contributed 6 points, that included two made threes, plus 5 rebounds and 4 assists as the Gauchos recovered from a ten-point first half deficit.
After opening the Big West with a couple of wins Riverside have now dropped three on the bounce. Angus McWilliam had 7 points and 4 rebounds for the Highlanders whilst Callum McRae came up with 6 points, 2 rebounds and a block. The Highlanders are 3-3 in conference play and next host Max de Geest and Long Beach State on January 30th.
LACEY LOWDOWN 