Feb. 27, 2006

West Texas A&M University men's basketball senior guard Ronnie Holmes was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Player of the Week, announced Monday (Feb. 27) by the conference office, for his performance in leading WTAMU's upset of sixth-ranked Tarleton State University with an 80-60 rout Saturday night at the First United Bank Center.

Holmes' honor gives WTAMU a sweep of the weekly LSC South Player of the Week Awards, as junior forward Alicia Saunders from the Lady Buffs collected the women's award, marking the first time this season that a school has swept the Player of the Week Awards for either division.

This is the second weekly honor for Holmes, as he was named Player of the Week back on Feb. 6, and is the second Buff player to garner the award, as junior guard/forward Damien Lolar collected the honor on Nov. 28.

Holmes, a 6-2 guard from Los Angeles, Calif., tallied a career-high 30 points, hitting a career-high seven 3-pointers, on 7-of-12 from 3-point land, making only one field goal inside the arc.

The Buffs hit a season-high 12 3-pointers, finishing 12-of-24 (50.0 percent) behind the arc.

Holmes is averaging 13.3 points per game overall, but an impressive 18.2 ppg in LSC South games. While Holmes ranks 18th in scoring overall, he ranks sixth in division games only, and fourth among the LSC South scoring leaders. From 3-point range, Holmes is hitting 34-of-71 (.479) in division games, shooting 45.0 percent (54-of-120) overall for the year. In the LSC statistics, Holmes ranks second behind sophomore teammate Tyler Cooper in 3-point field goal percentage and 10th in the league in 3-point field goals made with 2.08 per game.

With the win, WTAMU finished unbeaten at home during the regular season with a 14-0 mark and the Buffs are currently on an 18-game home winning streak and have won 21 of the last 23 home games in the home whites.

WTAMU improved to 20-7 on the year and 9-3 in LSC South, nabbing the second seed in the South and will host the North's fourth seed, Southwestern Oklahoma State University on Tuesday in the first-round of the LSC Tournament, at 8 p.m. at the First United Bank Center, following the Lady Buffs' first-round game against Cameron University at 6 p.m.

If WTAMU wins Tuesday, the Buffs will meet the winner of the Southeastern Oklahoma - Eastern New Mexico game on Friday in the semifinals, at a site to be determined based on Tuesday's outcome. Southeastern Oklahoma in the North's top seed and will host the conference tournament with a win Tuesday.

For ticket information to Tuesday's LSC Tournament first-round action, contact the WTAMU Athletics Ticket Office at 806-651-4424.

-WT-