SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Dominican University of California freshman men's basketball player
Austin Bryan has been named the 2009-10 Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Year and has earned a spot on the PacWest First Team. The honor was announced Monday by PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue.
The 6-foot-4 guard from Wenatchee, Wash. earned seven out of eight eight possible first-place votes to be named the PacWest Freshman of the Year and is one of seven players to be named to the First Team. Before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 20, Bryan started all 23 games for the Penguins and earned conference Player of the Week on Jan. 25 and was named to the PacWest Weekly Top 10 Honor Roll nine times during the season.
Despite having his season cut short by four games, Bryan finished the season leading the PacWest in scoring with 21.5 points per game in conference and 19.3 points per game overall for a total of 444 points. In conference play, Bryan also led all players in free throw percentage, making an astounding 70-of-78 (.897) attempts, and in three-pointers made with 30 (2.8 per game). He was fourth in PacWest play in steals (1.8 per game) and three-point percentage (30-of-68, .441). He finished 10th in conference in blocked shots (.9 per game).
Bryan scored 33 points in his first college game, against NCAA D-I University of San Francisco, and set a career-high 34 points in an 84-76 overtime win at Chaminade on Feb. 8.
Dominican Head Coach
Bret Tovani, in his fifth year guiding the Penguins, garnered one first-place vote for Coach of the Year as Dominican finished tied for fifth place in their first season of Division II play.
BYU-Hawaii's Lucas Alves was named the PacWest Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. Hawai'i Pacific University senior CJ Jackson was named Newcomer of the Year and Dixie State College's Jon Judkins was named Coach of the Year after leading his team to the co-championship with BYU-Hawaii. Visit
www.pacificwestsports.org for a full list of 2009-10 honorees.