NEWPORT NEWS, Va.—Davidson senior Tyler Kalinoski was named Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week and George Washington freshman Yuta Watanabe was named the league’s Rookie of the Week. The awards, which were announced Monday were for games played March 2-8 and are the final weekly awards of the 2014-15 season.
Kalinoski, who earned his third Player of the Week award this season, finished the final week of the regular season averaging 27.0 points, 6.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He shot 63.3 percent (19-30) from the floor and 57.9 percent (11-19) from 3-point range for the week. In Davidson's win over VCU, Kalinoski scored 22 points and handed out four assists. A senior guard from Overland Park, Kan., he capped his week with a career-high 32 points, nine assists and no turnovers in Davidson's win at Duquesne, which clinched the A-10 regular season title. In addition, he hit 12-of-14 from the floor and made 8 of his 10 attempts from behind the 3-point line.
Watanabe, who won his second A-10 rookie award this season, led GW to a 2-0 final week of the A-10 regular season with a team-best 13.5 points on 53 percent (8-15) shooting, including 64 percent (7-11) behind the arc, along with 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Watanabe, a forward from Kagawa, Japan, hit seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 21 points in an 87-65 rout of UMass on Saturday. The seven threes tied the second-most in a game in program history, and matched the second-most by a conference player and most by an A-10 freshman this season.
A-10 Weekly Honor Roll
Dayton’s Jordan Sibert averaged 19 points after shooting 73.3 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from 3-point range in a pair of games last week … Jordan Price of La Salle also averaged 19 points in two games last week while grabbing 5.5 rebounds, including a 21-point, eight-rebound performance to help the Explorers beat Dayton … Shevon Thompson continued his dominance on the glass, averaging 12.0 rebounds last week, including a 16-point, 15-rebounds double-double for George Mason at VCU … Hassan Martin of Rhode Island tallied 14 points and six blocks at Dayton, and then followed that with another 14 points to go with nine rebounds versus Saint Joseph’s, hitting 11-of-13 from the field in the two games … Richmond’s T.J. Cline averaged 14.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in heling the Spiders extend their winning streak … St. Bonaventure’s Dion Wright also recorded a 14.0 points per game average while pulling down 8.5 rebounds for the Bonnies to close out the regular season.