WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Fresh off a 53-point explosion against Redlands, Whitman College senior Kyle Born has been named Northwest Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Born, a 6-foot-6 forward, played four road games last week, averaging 25 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the floor. The two-time All-NWC player leads the conference in both scoring (22.3 ppg) and rebounding (10.3 rpg).
Born, a graduate of Stanwood (Wash.) High School, made 25 of 29 shots from the floor in torching Redlands for 53 points. That tied a 51-year-old record for the most points ever scored in a single game by a player at an NWC school. The record was set in 1955 by the legendary Elgin Baylor, who lit up Whitman for 53 points as a freshman at the College of Idaho (now Albertson College of Idaho, and no longer a member of the NWC).
Born also had double-doubles in Whitman’s two victories last week. He had 13 points and 12 rebounds in a non-conference win at La Sierra and 24 points and 12 boards in a comeback NWC win at Linfield. He has five double-doubles on the season, and he missed two others by a single rebound.
Born earned his first NWC weekly award in mid-December, after bouncing back from an ankle injur to score 39 points and grab 25 rebounds in two games at Whitman’s Wildhorse Resort Classic. For a news release about his first award, please click here.
The Whitman men's team hosts a pair of NWC games this weekend, playing Pacific Lutheran on Friday and Puget Sound on Saturday. Both games start at 8 p.m. in Sherwood Center.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information,
(509) 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu