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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii's Vander Joaquim slams the ball for a score in the first half of the Utah State vs Hawaii basketball game at Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii junior center Vander Joaquim was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team, the league announced in its postseason awards today.
Even after two subpar cames to close the regular season for UH (15-15, 6-8 WAC), Joaquim averaged 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.
He is the first UH player since Julian Sensley in 2005-06 to get first-team honors. Joaquim was also named to the All-Defensive team.
Senior guard Zane Johnson was an All-WAC honorable mention for the second straight year. That was the extent of the UH awards.
Nevada point guard Deonte Burton was named WAC Player of the Year after leading the Wolf Pack to a regular-season championship. The rest of the first team was Wendell McKines (New Mexico State), Olek Czyz (Nevada) and Preston Medlin (Utah State).
The Wolf Pack’s David Carter was named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year. Louisiana Tech’s Raheem Appleby was the Freshman of the Year.
The All-WAC second team was Kevin Olekaibe (Fresno State), Kyle Barone (Idaho), Appleby, Dario Hunt (Nevada) and Hernst Laroche (NMSU).
