Patrick Mills - West Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year

Patrick Mills Garner All-WCC Recognition

March 4, 2008


San Bruno, CA -- The Saint Mary's men's basketball team garnered three of the four West Coast Conference individual awards, and three players were named to the all-conference team. Seventh-year head coach Randy Bennett was named the Co-WCC Coach of the Year, Diamon Simpson was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year, and Patrick Mills was named the WCC Newcomer of the Year. In addition to the individual awards, Simpson and Mills were named First Team All-WCC and Omar Samhan garnered honorable mention all-conference honors.

The Gaels posted 12 wins in conference play, which tied the 1988-89 team for the most WCC wins in school history. The Gaels have been ranked in the ESPN/USA Today top-25 eight weeks this season, while the Associated Press has had the Gaels in its top-25 for six weeks. Bennett became the school's all-time wins leader earlier this season, surpassing James Weaver`s (1955-62) record that stood for 45 years.

Freshman Patrick Mills


Patrick Mills has had an immediate impact on the Saint Mary's program, as he's the team's leading scorer and assist guy during the 30-game season. He scored a Saint Mary's freshman record 432 points to average 14.4 points per game and also led the team with 104 assists. Mills, who is second among WCC freshmen in scoring during the regular season, ranks fifth in the WCC in scoring. He led all WCC freshmen in assists (3.47 apg) and steals (1.80 spg), which were also tops for Saint Mary's. Mills became the third freshman, and first since Darrell Tucker in 2000, to garner First Team All-WCC honors as a freshman.



2008 WCC AWARDS

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Patrick Mills, SMC
CO-COACH OF THE YEAR
Randy Bennett, SMC and Mark Few, GON

2008 ALL-WCC FIRST TEAM
Brody Angley, SCU
Matt Bouldin, GON
John Bryant, SCU
Brandon Johnson, USD
Dior Lowhorn, USF
Patrick Mills, SMC
Jeremy Pargo, GON
David Pendergraft, GON
Gyno Pomare, USD
Diamon Simpson, SMC


ALL-WCC FRESHMAN TEAM
Austin Daye, GON
Steven Gray, GON
Rob Jones, USD
Patrick Mills, SMC
Malcolm Thomas, PEP