Banks selected all-MWC

Steve Guiremand

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.

UNLV point guard Marcus Banks led the Mountain West Conference this season in steals and assists and finished second in scoring.

That was enough to enable the Cimarron Memorial High graduate to earn first team all-Mountain West Conference honors this morning, but wasn't quite enough to gain conference player of the year honors.

The MVP award went to New Mexico senior guard Ruben Douglas, who not only led the MWC in scoring with at 32.1 points per game, but also continues to lead the nation with an overall 28.3 average.

Although Banks didn't win conference player of the year honors, he did share defensive player of the year with BYU's Travis Hansen. It is the second straight year that Banks has won the honor.

"I think all-league voting is very difficult," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "I obviously have strong feelings for a number of our players."

Joining Banks on the first team, which was voted on by coaches and media, was Douglas, Hansen and the Wyoming duo of center Uche Nsonwu-Amadi and guard Donta Richardson.

Senior forward Dalron Johnson was selected to the second team and was the only other Rebel honored. He was joined on the second team by San Diego State guard Tony Bland and the Utah trio of center Tim Frost, guard Marc Jackson and forward Britton Johnsen.

San Diego State forward Evan Burns. was named the conference's freshman of the year. BYU's Steve Cleveland was named coach of the year.