Seven Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athletes Named NABC Division I All-District

March 5, 2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Seven Mountain West Conference men's basketball players were named to National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division I All-District teams, announced Wednesday, March 5. BYU's Lee Cummard and Trent Plaisted, and New Mexico's J.R. Giddens were selected to the All-District 13 first team, and San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade, Utah's Luke Nevill and Wyoming's Brandon Ewing were selected to the All-District 13 second team. UNLV's Wink Adams was also named to the All-District 15 second team. These individuals are among 150 student-athletes recognized as the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes.

BYU was the only institution in the region to have two players named to All-District teams. Cummard, a Mesa, Ariz., native, was named All-District 13 first team for the first time in his career. The 6-6 guard has been named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week twice this season, most recently for the week of Feb. 4, when he recorded back-to-back 20-point games in leading the Cougars to an undefeated week in conference play. Cummard currently ranks first in the MWC in field goal percentage (.572), second in free throw percentage (84.0), tied for fourth in scoring average (15.9) and sixth in rebounding (6.5) and assists (3.41). Plaisted has received three accolades this season as the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, the most recent on Feb. 18. The 6--11 forward from San Antonio, Texas, averages 8.0 rebounds per game and is second in the MWC in that category. He shares the Cougar lead in scoring (with Cummard) with an average of 15.9 points per game, which is good enough to rank him tied for fourth in the Conference.

Giddens, a 6-5 guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., is the Conference's leader in rebounding at 8.4 per game this season. He has a total of 244, 195 of which are defensive, which also is tops in the MWC. Giddens also averages 15.6 points per game (sixth in the league) and has a field goal percentage of 51.9 percent (fourth in the MWC).

Wade, 6-6 junior from Las Vegas, Nev., was been named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week on Jan. 21. He has a 15.4 scoring average, which puts him at seventh place in the Conference and shoots 46.7 percent from the floor, which ranks fifth.

Ewing, a junior guard from Chicago, Ill., has amassed 1,507 points in his career which currently ranks seventh all-time in the MWC. He is also second in the league in scoring average with 16.7 per game. Ewing is also second in the league is assists per game with 4.29 per contest. He is a two-time all-conference team member, earning third team accolades along with Freshman of the Year plaudits in 2005-06, and being named second-team all-MWC in 2006-07.

Nevill, a junior, is a two-time District 13 honoree. He is the Utes' leading scorer and rebounder averaging 14.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. The 7-1 center from Perth, Australia, owns a Conference-best 45 blocked shots (1.61 per game) and has scored double figures in eight games straight. Nevill was an honorable mention all-Mountain West Conference player last year as a freshman and a third-team member last season.

Adams, a 6-foot guard from Houston, Texas, leads UNLV this season in scoring with 16.0 points per game and free-throw percentage at 85.7 percent (108-of-126). His free throw percentage ranks first in the MWC, while his scoring average is third. He also averages 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, these student-athletes are now eligible for the NABC Division I All-America teams to be announced at the conclusion of the 2007-08 NCAA regular season.