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Herrera doubles up

FLC senior the toast of the RMAC, again

A double-double machine, Alex Herrera has a knack for doubling up on awards, too.

Herrera, a 6-foot-9 senior center from Ignacio and a senior of the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team, swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s weekly awards, being named the offensive and defensive player of the week.

It was the third time this season Herrera has claimed both weekly accolades and the fourth time in his career. He has won at least one of the awards seven of the 14 weeks this season.

“When you think of it, with 14 teams in the league without divisions, this is unprecedented for any player since I’ve been in the RMAC, which is 23 years,” FLC head coach Bob Hofman said. “We used to have seven-team divisions and there was a Western and Eastern Player of the Week and so many more awards. With this set up, this is unprecedented.”

Herrera shined in two big games over the weekend. He led FLC to a 68-64 upset win against No. 9 Metro State on Friday with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He followed that up with a heart-felt senior night in which he scored 25 points and grabbed another 12 rebounds in a 70-52 win against Regis.

“Such a memorable weekend,” Herrera said Saturday.

Herrera now is second in all of Divison II men’s basketball with 20 double-doubles this season. He still leads the nation in free-throw attempts (308), blocked shots per game (3.42) and total blocks (89). He’s second in free throws made (207), sixth in total rebounds (302) and seventh in rebounds per game (11.6) and points per game (23.7)

The 2010 graduate of Ignacio High School and son of Chris and Kathy Herrera averaged 2.5 blocked shots per game over the weekend.

Herrera swept both player of the week awards Jan. 5 and Jan. 25. He was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division II Player of the Week on Jan. 28.

Hofman believes Herrera has made his case for RMAC Player of the Year.

“There are three candidates, (Mitch) McCarron at Metro, (Derrick) White at (UC-Colorado Springs) and Alex,” Hofman said. “They’re all deserving.

“But for Alex, in my opinion, he’s the most valuable player. We see what he brings every day in practice. It has nothing do with his ability, but it’s how hard he works. Where he’s come from the time he was a freshman to now is unprecedented. White came in, four-year starter. McCarron came in, three-year starter. Alex had to work from the time he got here. He’s developed so much from the time we saw him as a junior in high school until now. Unprecedented in my 40 years.”

Herrera now has 19 RMAC Player of the Week awards in his career. He also swept both awards once as a sophomore.

The two-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Year earned the weekly defensive award five times as a junior and twice as a sophomore.

FLC will wrap up the regular season on the road this Friday and Saturday at Western State and Colorado Mesa, respectively. Herrera is determined to get the Skyhawks (19-7, 14-6 RMAC) one more home game in the RMAC Shootout. The team is sixth in the current RMAC standings and would need to leapfrog CSU-Pueblo (19-7, 15-5 RMAC) and Colorado Mesa (19-7, 14-6 RMAC) to get a home game.

Herrera knows his team can’t look past Western State (3-17, 4-20 RMAC) on Friday before the big clash Saturday in Grand Junction.

“We know both these games are huge,” Herrera said.

jlivingston@durangoherald.com

Feb 24, 2015
Magazzeni blocks way to RMAC award


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