All-WAC honors 4 Lopes

Grand Canyon leading scorers Carlos Johnson and Alessandro Lever were chosen as two of the WAC's top 10 players and Lopes point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. was named the conference's Freshman of the Year when All-WAC honors were released Tuesday.

With junior guard Mikey Dixon being named to the WAC All-Newcomer Team, four GCU players received postseason honors by the vote of conference coaches.

Blacksher leads WAC freshmen in most categories and is one of seven players in the nation, for any class, to average at least 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game this season. All-WAC first-teamer Terrell Brown of Seattle U also is in that exclusive group, which does not include any freshmen besides Blacksher.

"That was big," Blacksher said of the honor. "Of course, I was in it for it. It's a big accomplishment and I'm blessed and thankful for it."

With starts in all 30 of GCU's games, Blacksher has played the seventh-most minutes per game (34.6) among all freshmen in the nation. He averages 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game to rank 15th for points, 10th for rebounds, sixth for assists and third for steals in the WAC. At 5 feet 11, the Phoenix Shadow Mountain High School graduate has the third-best defensive rebounding average in the conference at 4.9.

"Jovan deserves it," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said of Blacksher's award. "He's a clear-choice winner. The guy is one of the best freshmen in the country, let alone the league. I asked a lot of him as a freshman to play those type of minutes. Being a point guard doubles the things that he has had to learn and he's been nothing but great."

Johnson and Lever each received their second All-WAC postseason honors. Johnson, a senior small forward, also was named to the All-WAC second team in his first GCU season last year. Lever, a junior center, was selected to All-WAC first team as a freshman in 2017-18.

In his first full-time starting season, Johnson established career highs for points per game (15.5), rebounds per game (5.1) and 3-point percentage (35.2%). He is the conference's fifth-leading scorer after posting a 33-point game in his GCU Arena finale Saturday, when the Lopes defeated CSU Bakersfield. After never having a 20-point game in two years at Washington, Johnson has scored 20 or more points 14 times in his two Lopes seasons.

Lever ranks in the WAC top 10 for points (third), field goal percentage (fourth), rebounds (seventh) and 3-point percentage (ninth). This season, Lever has set career highs for points per game (15.7), rebounds per game (6.0), assists per game (2.2), field goal percentage (53.5%), 3-point percentage (38.3%) and free throw percentage (78.9%).

"Those guys have proved it all year long," Majerle said. "Ale has been good with the double teams and things that he has to face every night and Los picked up where he finished last year. He's been consistent and one of our best players. Both of those guys deserve those awards and I'm happy for them."

After transferring to GCU from St. Johns during the 2018-19 season, Dixon became eligible to join Lopes action in mid-December and has ranked third on the team in scoring with 11.8 points per game in 18 appearances. If Dixon had enough appearances to qualify for WAC statistical rankings, the junior guard would be second in 3-point shooting at 43.1% and 15th in scoring.

The Lopes open the WAC Tournament at 8:30 p.m. Thursday with a first-round game against Kansas City in Las Vegas' Orleans Arena.

For a complete list of All-WAC honorees, click here.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Mikey Dixon

Carlos Johnson

Alessandro Lever

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