March 7, 2005

UNLV men's basketball senior forward Odartey Blankson has been named to the 2004-05 United States Basketball Writers Association's All-District VIII Team, as voted by the association's membership and announced by the organization on Monday.

It marks the second consecutive year that Blankson has been selected to the team.

Blankson, who was also named to the All-Mountain West Conference First Team today (also for the second time), leads the Runnin' Rebels in scoring with 18.3 ppg and rebounding with 8.3 rpg.

Blankson has 10 double-doubles in points and rebounds this season and has scored in double figures in 25 of UNLV's 27 games. He has scored 20 or more points in a game this season 13 times and scored a career high of 33 points this year vs. BYU.

The other nine members of the All-District VIII squad are Utah's Andrew Bogut, New Mexico's Danny Granger, Wyoming's Jay Straight, Nevada, Reno's Nick Fazekas, Utah State's Spencer Nelson, Denver's Yemi Nicholson, Air Force's Nick Welch, Colorado State's Matt Nelson, Utah Valley State's Ronnie Price, Utah's Marc Jackson and Weber State's Lance Allred.

Bogut was named the District VIII Player of the Year, while Utah head coach Ray Giacoletti earned Coach of the Year honors.

District VIII includes the states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.