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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke and WSU’s Robert Franks earn District IX honors

Gonzaga forward Rui Hachimura takes flight during the first half against Pepperdine in Monday’s WCC Tournament semifinal. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

The awards keep coming for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team and Washington State’s Robert Franks.

Gonzaga’s Mark Few was named District IX Coach of the Year and Rui Hachimura earned the district’s Player of the Year, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced.

Brandon Clarke, Hachimura and Franks made the All-District IX team.

District IX includes programs from California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona and Alaska.

Few, who has guided Gonzaga to the No. 1 ranking, is a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year. The Zags reached 30 wins with Monday’s 100-74 win over Pepperdine in the WCC Tournament semifinals at the Orleans Arena. The Zags have five 30-win seasons (2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019).

Hachimura, who was voted WCC Player of the Year, ranks third in the WCC at 20.4 points per game and eighth in rebounding at 6.6. He has 19 20-point games and scored a career-high 33 against Idaho State in the season opener.

Clarke, the WCC’s Defender and Newcomer of the Year, has 101 blocked shots, third nationally, and he’s sixth on Gonzaga’s career list. He broke Austin Daye’s single-season record of 70 with seven games remaining in the regular season.

Clarke’s is No. 1 nationally in field-goal percentage (69.2). He’s averaging 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Clarke and Hachimura have scored in double figures in all 32 games this season.

Franks, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection, led the Cougars with a 22.1 scoring average, 18th nationally. He poured in 37 points in WSU’s lost to Oregon State in the regular-season finale.

Franks shares the eighth spot Marcus Moore on WSU’s single-season scoring list with 575 points. The 11th-seeded Cougars, who open the Pac-12 Tournament against No. 6 Oregon on Wednesday.

Franks was voted the conference’s Most Improved Player last season.

All-District IX selections included USC’s Bennie Boatwright, Arizona State’s Zylan Cheatham, CSUN’s Lamine Diane, Arizona State’s Luguentz Dort, Washington’s Jaylen Nowell and Matisse Thybulle, Stanford’s KZ Okpala and Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle.