SAN DIEGO – In voting by the 11 Mountain West head coaches and based on league contests only, senior guard Matt Bradley, senior forward Nathan Mensah, and sophomore guards Lamont Butler and Chad Baker-Mazara have been recognized for their play in the 2021-22 campaign.
Bradley has been named the league's Newcomer of the Year and a first-team All-Mountain West performer. Mensah is the Defensive Player of the Year, a member of the All-Defensive Team and an honorable mention designee. Butler earned inclusion on the All-Defensive Team and Baker-Mazara is the Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year.
Bradley, who yesterday was named Newcomer of the Year and a second-team performer by the media that regularly cover the Mountain West, led San Diego State in his initial season on The Mesa in points (497), points per game (17.8), field goal (170), field goal attempts (375), 3-point field goals (53), 3-point field goal attempts (127), free throws (104) and free throw attempts (131), and was second in rebounds (147), rebounds per game (5.3), assists (75) and steals (31).
In league contests, his 19.7 points were third best and he was No. 4 in free throw percentage (.798) and 3-point field goals (2.47 per game), No. 6 in field goal percentage (.471), No. 9 in steals (1.18 per game) and defensive rebounds (5.00 per game), No. 12 in rebounding (5.71 per game), No. 14 in assists (2.82 per game).
Overall, in the Mountain West, he was No. 4 in free throw percentage (.794), No. 6 in 3-point field goals, No. 9 in scoring, No. 10 in field goal percentage (.453), No. 13 in rebounding and defensive boards (4.54 per game).
Twice this season in league play, Bradley totaled at least 80 points in a three-game stretch, including the last three games of the regular season (80 points), which helped secure his second Mountain West Player of the Week honor as well as ESPN National Player of the Week and Andy Katz's NCAA Digital March Madness Player of the Week.
Bradley has scored in double figures 24 times in 28 games, had 16 games of 15 or more points, 20 or more points in 12 games and set a career-high with 30 points at Wyoming on Feb. 28. He led the Aztecs in scoring on 17 occasions (SDSU was 14-3 in those games), in assists 12 times (8-4) and in rebounds six times (5-1). He knocked down multiple three pointers in 16 games and San Diego State went 13-3 in those contests. He shot over 50.0 percent in eight of the team's last 14 games and over 40.0 percent in 18-of-28 games.
Mensah, the media poll's Defensive Player of the Year and a third-team performer, was the black line stopper on the best defense in the nation. His 59 blocks led the league, as did his average of 2.11 per game, which ranks No. 38 nationally and he was more than half a block per game clear of his nearest league rival. He was No. 7 in rebounds (7.04 per game), No. 6 in offensive boards (2.25 per game) and No. 9 in defensive rebounds (4.79 per game).
In conference games, he averaged 1.94 blocks per contest (33 total in 17 games), again more than half a block better than his nearest conference rival. His 2.12 offensive rebounds per game ranked fifth and was ninth in rebounding (6.24 per game), which includes No. 15 in defensive boards (4.12 per game).
Mensah recorded at least one block in 15-of-17 league games and had multiple blocks in 10 Mountain West contests. He swatted a season-best four shots in three occasions, and he is just one of four players in the Dutcher/Fisher era to score at least 700 points, grab 600 rebounds and block 100 shots. Entering the Mountain West tournament he has 713 points, 643 rebounds and 159 blocks in his Aztec career and those 159 blocks rank third on the program's career list.
Mensah recorded five games of 10 or more rebounds, had a double double, and led the Aztecs in rebounds 14 times (the Aztecs were 10-4 in those games). In the Aztecs 62-55 victory at UNLV on Jan. 1, defensively according to Synergy Sports, Mensah did not allow a point, with his defensive assignment going 0-for-6 from the field in 28:43 of action. Against New Mexico, on Jan. 31, he recorded five steals and four blocks, and is the only player in the nation, who stands 6-10 or taller to have those two stats in a game this season.
Offensively he reached double figures in seven games, including two games of 15 or more points, one of which, against UC San Diego, saw him set a career-high with 19 points.
Butler led the Aztecs, who boast the No. 2-rated adjusted defensive efficiency in the nation according to KenPom.com, with 43 steals, including 29 in Mountain West play, and ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in those categories, respectively. His 1.87 steals per game are the 61st best average in the nation and his 43 total steals are No. 184 in the nation.
He totaled a season-best four steals in three league games this season, including the Aztecs 30-point blowout of then No. 20/19 Colorado State on Jan. 8, 2022.
A starter in 20-of-22 appearances, he set career-bests in nearly every statistical category and in Mountain West games he averaged 6.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and dished out 34 assists.
Baker-Mazara, who transferred to SDSU from Duquesne after last season, appeared in 16 of the team's 17 conference games and came off the bench in all.
He averaged 7.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in league play while shooting 47.3 from the floor (43-of-91), 43.2 percent from beyond the arc (16-of-37) and 88.9 percent from the line (24-of-27). In addition, he had 15 steals, 11 assists, and eight blocks.
All five of his double-digit scoring games came in conference play including a game and season-high 20 points at Fresno State on Feb. 19
The Aztecs open the 2022 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men's Basketball Championship as the No. 3 seed and will play the winner of the game between No. 6 seed Fresno State and No. 11 seed San Jose State, in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10 at 8:30 p.m. PT with the game being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
-SDSU-
Four Aztecs Earn All-MW Honors In Coaches Poll
