March 6, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State junior guard Brandon Heath has been named the 2006 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, the league office announced today. The Aztecs (21-8; 13-3 MWC), league regular season champions, led the conference with three all-league selections. In addition to Heath, junior forward Marcus Slaughter joins him as a unanimous first-team honoree, while Mohamed Abukar has been named to the second-team.
Heath, from Los Angeles, Calif., led SDSU to its first conference championship since 1978. He was the only player to score in double figures in every league game this season, while leading the MWC in scoring with an average of 19.5 points per game. He also led the MWC with 54 made three-point field goals in conference contests (3.38 per game). Heath is the only player to be named MWC Player of the Week three times this season and established a new San Diego State record with five career weekly awards surpassing former Aztecs Michael Cage and Aerick Sanders. The junior was also named to the NABC all-District 13 squad along with Slaughter.
Slaughter (Riverside, Calif.), a second-team pick last season, was the top rebounder and defensive rebounder in the conference grabbing an average of 10.9 and 6.88 rebounds per game, respectively. He finished second to Heath in scoring with an average of 16.6 points per game and was second in the MWC in offensive rebounds (4.0 per game). The junior ended the 2005-06 regular season with a pair of league player of the week honors.
Abukar (San Diego, Calif.), the preseason MWC newcomer of the year, finished among the league's top-10 in three categories. The junior was the league's third-best free-throw shooter, making an average of 85.7 percent of his attempts, while finishing fourth in field goal percentage (53.7 percent) and ninth in scoring (15.2 points per game). Since he became eligible in late December, the Aztecs went 15-4. With Abukar, Heath and Slaughter in the starting lineup, SDSU finished with a 13-3 record.
Heath is the sixth conference player of the year in program history and becomes the fifth different Aztec to win league player of the year accolades at San Diego State. This is just the first time since 1985, when Leonard Allen and Anthony Watson were honored in the Western Athletic Conference, that the Aztecs have had two players named first-team all-conference in the same year.
This is the third consecutive season in which Heath and Slaughter have earned postseason league recognition. In 2004, the two were honorable mention picks and in 2005, both were named to the MWC second team. For Abukar, this is his first postseason accolade.