Washington State Cougars - Men's Basketball

Nelson, Pengelly make second team

PULLMAN, Wash. - Senior guard Will Hutchens has been named to the Pacific-10 Conference All-Academic first team, commissioner Tom Hansen announced Friday. It is the fifth straight year a member of the Washington State men's basketball team has been named to Pac-10 All-Academic first team.

Hutchens, a native of Dayton, Wash., played in 25 games in 1998-99, starting in two. The former walk-on averaged 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, with highs of nine points, six rebounds and five assists coming in WSU's win against Grambling State. Hutchens holds a 3.74 grade point average and will graduate in May with a degree in Sciences Management/Crops.

During the last five seasons, WSU has placed David Vik (1995), Carlos Daniel (1996-97-98), Cameron Johnson (1997) and now Hutchens (1999) on the Pac-10 All-Academic first team. Since the conference established the award following the 1985-86 season, Washington State has placed a total of 10 players on the first team, which is second only to Stanford's 20.

The Cougars also placed senior center Leif Nelson and junior guard Blake Pengelly on the All-Academic second team. It was the second straight second team honor for both. Nelson averaged 2.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game this season. He holds a 3.11 GPA and will graduate in May with a degree in psychology. Pengelly led WSU with 88 assists in 1998-99. He played in 29 games, starting 19, and scored 3.7 points per game. Pengelly has a 3.5 GPA and is majoring in psychology.

Pac-10 All-Academic Team

First Team

Will Hutchens WSU Sr. 3.74, Science Management/Crops 
Bobby Lazor ASU Sr. 3.60, Business Marketing 
Todd MacCulloch WASH Sr. 3.14, Speech and Hearing Science 
Mark Madsen STAN Jr. 3.18, Economics/Spanish 
A.D. Smith ORE Jr. 3.54, Business Administration 

Jason Heide OSU So. 3.15, Science 
Leif Nelson WSU Sr. 3.11, Psychology 
Blake Pengelly WSU Jr. 3.50, Psychology 
Chris Walcott WASH Jr. 3.18, Business 
Tim Young STAN Sr. 3.15, English 

Ron DuBois ASU Sr. 3.03, Social Studies 
George von Backstrom OSU Jr. 3.10, Speech Communications