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DENVER - Grand Canyon freshman center Alessandro Lever has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 15-21. This is his first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor.
The Bolzano, Italy, native averaged 26.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in a pair of road wins last week. Lever shot 73.1 percent from the field and 75.3 percent from three-point range over the two games. He opened the week by setting a Grand Canyon Division I freshman record with a career-best 28 points at Chicago State. Lever was 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. He also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out two assists. Lever followed it up with his first career double-double of 24 points and a season-high-tying 10 rebounds at Kansas City. He entered the week averaging 6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Brent Wrapp averaged 6.5 assists, 6.0 points and 5.5 rebounds as the ‘Runners went 1-1 on the week ... Deionte Simmons of Chicago State averaged 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds ... Kansas City's Xavier Bishop averaged 17.5 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals as the Roos went 1-1 on the week ... Zach Lofton of NM State averaged 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists as the Aggies went 2-0 on the week to remain the only unbeaten team in WAC play ... Seattle U's Aaron Menzies averaged 15.5 points and 13.5 rebounds as the Redhawks went 1-1 on the week ... Nick Dixon of UT Rio Grande Valley averaged 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 ... Utah Valley's Conner Toolson averaged 16.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.5 steals as the Wolverines went 1-1 on the week.