Men’s Basketball: UCI’s Martin named Player of the Week

UC Irvine senior guard Jaron Martin has been named Big West Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season after he averaged 25.0 points in the past three games.

He scored a career-high 33 points in an 85-79, overtime loss at Western Athletic Conference preseason favorite New Mexico State Dec. 19, hitting 13 of 21 field goals, including a career-best seven of 11 threes.

Those 33 points are a Big West single-game high this season.

Martin averaged 21.0 points as the Anteaters split a pair of games in the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational at El Paso, Texas, Wednesday and Thursday.

He scored 20 in an 88-80 loss to Akron, then went for 22 points in a 62-57 win over UTEP, connecting on seven of 11 shots. Martin hit four threes in the span of two minutes early in the second half of the victory to give UCI the lead for good.

He was named to the all-tournament team in El Paso, his second such honor of the season and third in his career.

Martin hit 16 three-pointers for the week and he is tied for second in the Big West this season with 36 three-pointers. He has 146 career threes to rank No. 9 in Anteater history.

Martin has UCI’s top-four scoring games this season and four of the Big West’s top eight. He has five 20-point games this season.

UCI, which plays four of its next five games at home, hosts Life Pacific in a nonconference contest Friday night at 7 before opening Big West action against Long Beach State Jan. 4 in the Bren Events Center, also at 7 p.m.

— From staff reports