Posted on: Wednesday, March 9, 2005

UH-Hilo dominates all-PacWest selections

Advertiser Staff

University of Hawai'i-Hilo swept the top honors yesterday on the 2005 All-Pacific West Conference basketball team.

Senior forward Skip Esene and coach Jeff Law were named Player and Coach of the Year, respectively.

Esene, a 6-foot-6 forward, averaged a conference-best 21.3 points per game. He also was seventh in the PacWest in rebounds per game (5.4) and field-goal percentage (52.5).

Law, a former UH-Manoa assistant, led the Vulcans to a 24-3 record. The Vulcans are the No. 2 seed at this week's NCAA West Regional in Bellingham, Wash. Hilo plays Chico State Friday.

UH-Hilo also placed guard Alex Cabagnot on the first team.

Cabagnot was first in the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 2.66. He also averaged 14.4 points per game.

League runner-up BYU-Hawai'i also had two first-team selections, both repeat selections from last year. Jake Chrisman, last year's player of the year, was second in this year's voting. He was second in the PacWest in scoring (20.7). Austin Smylie averaged 17 points and 6.9 rebounds to earn his second straight first-team selection.

Chaminade guard Zack Whiting, who led the league in assists at 6.78 a game and also averaged 14.5 points a game, made it an all-Hawai'i first team.

There also were seven players named to the all-academic team. The minimum GPA to earn academic all-conference honors is 3.30. Jonathan Wiley of MSU-Billings had the highest GPA at 3.94.