Men's Basketball Release

FREEMAN EARNS BIG SKY MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

3/1/2005

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State junior point guard DaShawn Freeman was named Big Sky Conference Men’s Basketball co-Player of the Week after burying a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining to give the Hornets an 87-86 victory over Northern Arizona last week.

The victory gave the Hornets a Big Sky Quarterfinals home game this Saturday against Weber State. Freeman, who earned the award for the first time in his career, finished the game with 17 points, a career-high 11 assists, four rebounds and a game-high tying three steals. Freeman shared the award with Weber State center Lance Allred.

The Oakland, Calif., native finished the game 5-of-11 from the floor, 2-of-2 from beyond the three-point line and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. His 11 assists broke his previous career high of 10, which he set earlier this year at Idaho State. Freeman, who also converted a three-point play to give the Hornets a two-point lead with 3:54 remaining in the contest, finished with 10 of his 17 points in the second half.

Over the last eight games (the Hornets are 6-2 during that stretch), the third-year point guard is playing some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game while shooting 52.6 percent (10-19) from beyond the three-point arc.

He currently ranks among the top four Big Sky leaders (all games) in steals (first with 2.89 per game), assists (second with 4.89 per game), assist-to-turnover ratio (third with 1.55) and free-throw percentage (fourth at .794). His 2.89 steals per game ranks as the eighth-best mark in the nation.

Freeman became the Sacramento State Div. I (1991-pres.) career leader in assists (330) and steals (197) earlier this season and is just 14 steals shy of breaking the program record for steals (210). In addition, his 132 assists this season is just eight shy of the Hornet Div. I single-season record of 140.

Coupled with Jameel Pugh’s two awards earlier this season (Jan. 31 and Feb. 21), the Hornets have now earned a program-best three Big Sky Player of the Week awards this year.

Sacramento State (12-15), which posted a program-best 8-6 mark in the Big Sky this year, has won four in a row and seven of its last nine game heading into this Saturday’s tournament game against Weber State.