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DENVER - NM State graduate student guard Zach Lofton has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 18-24. This is his third WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and of his career.
The St. Paul, Minn., native led the Aggies to the championship game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic with a pair of dramatic wins, including their first win against a Top 10 team since 1990, a 63-54 victory over previously unbeaten and No. 6 Miami on Saturday. Lofton averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals and was a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line over the two games. He opened the week with 10 points, a team-high eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in NM State's thrilling 69-68 win over Davidson. Lofton followed it up with game highs of 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals in the victory over the Hurricanes. He also made six of the Aggies' eight free throws on the game, as he was perfect at the line, going 6-of-6. The win for NM State was also its first against an ACC team since 1997.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Jarkel Joiner finished with 23 points and two rebounds in a loss to Delaware ... Alessandro Lever of Grand Canyon averaged 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds and shot 57.1 percent from three-point range as the Lopes went 2-1 on the week ... Seattle U's Matej Kavas averaged 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Redhawks went 1-1 on the week ... Xavier McDaniel of UT Rio Grande Valley finished with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal in a loss to Oklahoma State ... Akolda Manyang of Utah Valley averaged 16.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as the Wolverines went 2-0 last week.