UC Riverside junior Kyle Austin (Pasadena, Calif./USC) captured his third career Big West Men's Basketball Player of the Week accolade as he spearheaded an amazing comeback against San Diego with a career-high scoring night and cemented the team's longest winning streak in its Division I history.

Austin, a 6-8 forward, erupted for 28 points in a 58-55 home victory against San Diego on Friday.  He scored 22 of those points in the pivotal second half as the Highlanders wiped out a 19-point deficit over the final 13:14 of the game.  It was the biggest deficit UCR has overcome to win a game in its Division I era.

Against the Toreros, Austin added 10 rebounds to lock up his third double-double of the season.  He hit 9 of 15 floor shots and 9 of 13 from the foul line en route to the 28-point effort.  Austin also had three assists and two steals to help the team to its fifth straight victory.

Austin notched 19 points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes of action in Wednesday's 87-47 thrashing of Cal State Bakersfield.  He made 8 of 12 shots in what was UC Riverside's third-largest margin of victory since transitioning to Division I.

For the week, Austin averaged 23.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting 63.0% (17 of 27) from the field.  On the season, Austin ranks third in the Big West with 17.1 points per game and his 8.6 rebounds is tied for second.

Others nominated:  Shawn Lewis (Cal Poly); Kenny Daniels (Cal State Northridge); Mark Payne (UC Davis); Demetrece Young (Pacific)