Men's Basketball

Johnson Named MW Player of the Week

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Johnson Named MW Player of the WeekJohnson Named MW Player of the Week

SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Keshad Johnson has been named the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Week for the week ending on Jan. 2. The announcement was made from the league office in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday morning.
 
In winning its conference opener on Saturday, 62-55 over UNLV at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, he scored 10 points, grabbed, 11 rebounds and had a block to help improve the Aztecs record to 9-3 on the year and 1-0 in league games.
 
Johnson's 11 boards led the team and are a season high, and his three offensive rebounds matches his season best. The three offensive boards, all pulled down in the first half, were turned into seven of the Aztecs 16 second chance points in the game.
 
Four of those 16 points were scored by the Oakland, Calif., native himself. His first two offensive rebounds led to both the Aztecs first bucket of the game, a Matt Bradley 3-pointer, and a Johnson putback with 1:01 to play in the first half to push SDSU's advantage to six points, 35-29.
 
The first of Johnson's 10 points came on a pair of free throws w/ 5:14 left in the first half and tied the game at 25-25. From there San Diego State trailed just once more in the game. In the contest, he shot .500 from the floor (4-of-8), knocked down 2-of-3 from the line, and committed just one turnover in 30 minutes of game action.
 
Johnson predominantly covered UNLV's Bryce Hamilton when he was on the floor and held the 44.0 percent shooter to just 31.5 percent and more than three points below his season average of 18.6 points per outing. For the game, the Aztecs limited the Runnin' Rebels to just 29.7 percent shooting, a season-low for UNLV which came into the game hitting 42.6 percent from the floor.
 
This is the first Mountain West weekly award of the season for an Aztec this season, and the first of Johnson's career.
 
San Diego State's next game is against Nevada on Saturday, Jan. 8 at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on CBS.
 
-SDSU-