Sacramento State's McKinney Named MVP

3/9/2015 6:02:49 PM

OGDEN, Utah (March 10, 2015) - For the first time since Sacramento State joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97, a Hornet has been selected as the men’s basketball Most Valuable Player.
 
Sacramento State senior guard Mikh McKinney took the honor Monday, and was one of three unanimous selections to the All-Conference First Team. The conference coaches selected the individual award winners and All-Conference team. They were not allowed to vote for their own players.
 
McKinney, a 6-foot-1 senior from Union City, Calif., finished the regular season second in the Big Sky with an average of 19 points per game. He also led the league in steals (2.6 pg), was second in assists (5.0 pg), and shot .515 percent from the field, .423 percent from 3-point range,  and .780 percent from the free-throw line.
 
McKinney, selected First Team All-Conference as a junior, ranked in the top 15 in seven major statistical categories. McKinney also helped Sacramento State to its first winning season since joining the Big Sky. The Hornets tied for third at 13-5 in conference and take a 19-9 overall record into this week’s 2015 Big Sky Conference Championship. He is the first Hornet men’s basketball player to win a conference MVP award since 1977.
 
Montana junior Martin Breunig was named the Newcomer of the Year and was also a unanimous All-Big Sky selection. Eastern Washington’s Bogdan Bliznyuk was selected as the Freshman of the Year. Montana State junior Marcus Colbert garnered Top Reserve honors, while Northern Arizona’s Jordyn Martin was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Breunig, a 6-foot-8 forward from Leverkusen, Germany, helped Montana to the Co-Big Sky Conference regular-season title, and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The transfer from Washington was a force down low for Travis DeCuire’s club. Breunig finished the regular season sixth in the league in scoring with an average of 16.6 points per game. He pulled down 6.9 rebounds per game and shot .602 percent from the field.
 
Eastern Washington junior guard Tyler Harvey was the third unanimous selection to the First Team. Harvey, who garnered First Team accolades for the second consecutive season, leads the nation in scoring with an average of 22.9 points per game. Harvey also leads the nation with an average of 4.0 3-point field goals per game. Harvey has made 112 3-pointers so far, which ranks second in league single-season history. Harvey also ranks second in the league in free-throw percentage (.841)
 
McKinney, Breunig and Harvey were joined on the First Team by Northern Arizona sophomore guard Kris Yanku, Grizzly senior guard Jordan Gregory, and Eastern Washington junior forward Venky Jois.
 
Jois, from Boronia, Australia, teamed with Harvey to help Eastern Washington share the conference regular-season title with Montana. Jois ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 17.1 points per game and is third in rebounds (7.6 pg). Jois is also third in field-goal percentage (.604), and first in blocked shots (2.4 pg)
 
Gregory ranks fifth in scoring at 16.8 points per game. He also averaged 3.3 assists per game.
 
Yanku, the lone freshman or sophomore on the First Team, averaged 13.6 points, five assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game.
 
Bliznyuk was a unanimous selection as the Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-6 native of Lusk, Ukraine, shined during conference play. In the 18 league games, he averaged 12 points, 5.6 rebounds, and shot .580 percent from the floor.
 
Colbert, a junior from Post Falls, Idaho, began the season as a starter, but played great for the Bobcats coming off the bench most of the conference season.  In conference play, he averaged 13.5 points and 4.4 assists per game.
 
Martin, a 6-7 forward from Las Vegas, was a key cog defensively for the Lumberjacks, who tied for third in the league at 13-5. He averaged 7.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He helped Northern Arizona allow just 67.4 points per game. Opponents shot a league-low .331 percent from 3-point range against Northern Arizona.
 
Idaho’s Connor Hill and Mike Scott were selected to the Second Team, along with Northern Arizona’s Quinton Upshur, Weber State’s Joel Bolomboy and Sacramento State’s Dylan Garrity.

Player	Hgt	Year	Pos.	School	Hometown
*#Tyler Harvey	6-4	Jr.	G	Eastern Washington	Torrance, Calif.
Venky Jois	6-8	Jr.	F	Eastern Washington	Boronia, Australia
*Martin Breunig	6-8	Jr.	F	Montana	Leverkusen, Germany
Jordan Gregory	6-2	Sr.	G	Montana	Pueblo, Colo.
Kris Yanku	6-4	So.	G	Northern Arizona	Chatsworth, Calif.
*#Mikh McKinney	6-1	Sr.	G	Sacramento State	Union City, Calif.

*Unanimous Selection
#Two-time First Team Selection

Player	Hgt	Year	Pos.	School	Hometown
Connor Hill	6-3	Sr.	G	Idaho	Post Falls, Idaho
Mike Scott	6-0	Sr.	G	Idaho	Los Angeles, Calif.
Quinton Upshur	6-5	Sr.	G	Northern Arizona	Norfolk, Va.
Dylan Garrity	6-2	Sr.	G	Sacramento State	Huntington Beach, Calif.
Joel Bolomboy	6-9	Jr.	F	Weber State	Fort Worth, Texas

Player	Hgt	Year	Pos.	School	Hometown
Drew Brandon	6-4	Sr.	G	Eastern Washington	Corona, Calif.
Chris Hansen	6-4	Sr.	G	Idaho State	Fort Collins, Colo.
Jeffrey Solarin	6-4	Sr.	F	Idaho State	Denver, Colo.
Mario Dunn	6-0	So.	G	Montana	Oakland, Calif.
Aaseem Dixon	6-0	Sr.	G	Northern Arizona	Las Vegas, Nev.
Tevin Svihovec	6-2	Sr.	G	Northern Colorado	Kingwood, Texas
DaShaun Wiggins	6-2	Sr.	G	Portland State	Bronx, N.Y.
Jeremy Senglin	6-2	So.	G	Weber State	Arlington, Texas