ST. LOUIS-Tuesday, numerous stars in Beehive State men’s college basketball were honored by making the All-District VIII squad.
District VIII represents schools in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Montana.
Utah State senior guard Sam Merrill was named this district’s player of the year.
The former Bountiful High School star led the Aggies to a Mountain West Conference tournament championship for the second consecutive season by hitting a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to defeat No. 5 San Diego State, 59-56 Saturday.
Merrill is averaging a team-best 19.7 points per contest, as well as 4.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
The University of Utah was represented on the All-District squad by sophomore forward Timmy Allen.
Allen leads the Utes in scoring (17.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.3 boards per contest) and also averages 3 assists per contest for good measure.
Allen is joined on the All-District squad by BYU senior forward Yoeli Childs. This is Childs’ third consecutive year of making this prestigious squad. Childs leads the Cougars in scoring (22.2 points per game) and rebounding (9 boards per game). Historically, the only other Cougars to achieve this honor include guards Jimmer Fredette (2007-2011) and Tyler Haws (2009-2010; 2012-2015).
Furthermore, BYU men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope was named as the All-District VIII coach of the year.
Pope presently has the Cougars at 24-8 (.750) while leading them to a 13-3 (.813) record in West Coast Conference games.
Currently, BYU is No. 14 in The Associated Press poll and entered the AP poll for the first time this season February 17.
The last time the Cougars were ranked prior to this past February was the 2010-11 season.
