Complete Release in PDF
DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley freshman forward Lesley Varner Jr. has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 16-22. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of his career.
The Dallas native had a career week as he nearly posted a triple-double in the Vaqueros' overtime victory against Chicago State. Varner posted his first-career double-double with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with a career-high 11 rebounds. He also added a career-high seven assists with no turnovers in 32 minutes of action off the bench and a career-high-tying three steals. Varner entered the week averaging 4.3 points on 38.6 percent shooting, 2.0 rebounds, 0.76 assists and 0.76 steals per game. With the victory, UTRGV now sits in a tie for fourth place in the WAC standings.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Jaylin Airington finished with 12 points seven rebounds and two assists in a win over Utah Valley ... Trayvon Palmer of Chicago State averaged 21.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.0 steals and 1.0 block as the Cougars went 1-1 on the week ... Grand Canyon's Joshua Braun averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists as the Lopes went 2-0 on the week ... Jemerrio Jones of NM State finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds in the Aggies' win over UMKC ... Utah Valley's Zach Nelson finished with 10 points and six rebounds in a three-point loss at CSU Bakersfield last week.