Long Beach State's Eugene Phelps (Los Angeles, Calif./Taft HS) was selected the Big West Men's Basketball Player of the Week after leading the 49ers to a pair of conference home wins.

Phelps is the fifth player in Long Beach State's starting lineup to win the weekly honor this season.  It is the first time in league history that five players from the same team earned Player of the Week honors in a season.

The sophomore forward stepped up his production drastically to nab the honor.  Entering the week averaging 8.2 points per game, Phelps set career highs in scoring in consecutive games.

He scored 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting in a 69-68 road victory against Cal State Northridge.  He added three blocked shots and a pair of steals in 23 minutes.

Against UC Davis in an 80-58 home victory, Phelps collected a career-high 21 points, hitting 9 of 14 from the field and all three free throw attempts.  He yanked down nine rebounds to go along with two assists, a block and a steal.

A 58.2 percent free throw shooter entering the week's games, Phelps was accurate at the stripe by converting 7 of 9 (77.8%) overall attempts.

For the week, Phelps averaged 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game while hitting at a 61.5% (16 of 26) clip from the floor.

Others nominated:  Orane Chin (Cal State Fullerton); Willie Galick (Cal State Northridge); James Nunnally (UC Santa Barbara); Sam Willard (Pacific)