Strong finish earns Amundson recognition

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

One day after grabbing a Mountain West Conference record 22 rebounds in UNLV's 91-87 overtime victory at Auburn, Rebels forward Louis Amundson reached another milestone.

The 6-foot-9 junior from Boulder, Colo., picked up his first MWC men's basketball player of the week honor and also the first by a UNLV player this season.

Amundson earned the recognition despite starting the week with one of his poorest games of the young season in a 86-78 loss at Pepperdine. He scored just 3 points and had 7 rebounds against the Waves in 15 minutes before fouling out.

But Amundson more than made up for it four days later in Alabama when he connected on 10 of 13 shots from the floor en route to 22 points to go along with his 22 boards in the win at Auburn. He also led the team with three blocked shots and two steals in 41 minutes of action.

For the week, Amundson averaged 12.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots while shooting 68.8 percent (11 of 16) from the floor.

The 22 rebounds broke the previous MWC mark of 19 set by Air Force's Miguel Garcia on Jan. 20, 2000, at San Diego State.

UNLV, which is in the middle of final exams this week, took Monday off from practice. The Rebels return to action Saturday night when they host No. 5 Oklahoma State in the first game of the Las Vegas Showdown at 7 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.