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It takes a nation to honor Herrera

FLC center receives a National Player of the Week
Fort Lewis College senior center Alex Herrera has soared over the competition all season, and he was recognized as the USBWA Division II National Player of the Week on Wednesday.

Alex Herrera has another accolade to back up his play as one of the best players in all of Division II men’s basketball.

Fort Lewis College’s 6-foot-9, 255-pound senior center from Ignacio was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division II National Player of the Week on Wednesday. The announcement came after Herrera averaged 30 points and 12.5 rebounds in wins against Colorado Christian and previously ninth-ranked Colorado Mines.

The always humble Herrera deflected praise for his accomplishment onto his teammates while saying individual honors aren’t what he’s going after.

“It’s great to get all these individual awards, but I haven’t won a championship up here, and that’s what I’m chasing most,” Herrera said. “I’m going after the conference championship.”

Herrera, a 2010 graduate of Ignacio High School and the son of Chris and Kathy Herrera, has grown from a Bobcat to a Skyhawks superstar to one of the best players in the nation. He became the sixth player to earn the USBWA award in the first year the basketball writers have included Division II players in the weekly awards. Fellow Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference star Derrick White, a guard at UC-Colorado Springs, earned the inaugural award on Dec. 7.

Herrera had 32 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots last Friday against Colorado Christian. The FLC career blocked shots record holder added 28 points, 13 rebounds one block and one steal in the 83-77 win Saturday against Colorado Mines. He shot a combined 53.5 percent from the floor and made 28-of-38 free throws, including a career high 20 makes on a career high 26 attempts against Colorado Christian.

“I played two pretty good games, and beating a top-10 team definitely helped,” Herrera said of his performances that led to the honor. “But I have to give credit to the team that I’m on. They get me in spots. It’s all about positioning in the post, and they help me by making outside shots. It’s a whole-team thing.”

Herrera also swept the RMAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards, the second time he has accomplished that feat this year and third time in his career. He has 16 conference player of the week awards in his career.

FLC head coach Bob Hofman said he never expected Herrera to blossom into a national star when he first recruited him out of Ignacio.

“I would say you never rate potential over performance, and his performance has far exceeded what we thought this potential was,” Hofman said. “The better Alex got, the more he started loving the game.”

Hofman said it was in Herrera’s third year in the program that they began to realize how special of a player they had. It was determined more by his work ethic than increasingly growing stature.

“It’s very rare for guys who are always taller than their classmates. They’re always told to be basketball players, even if they don’t want to be. For Alex, as he got better, his desire increased more and more,” Hofman explained. “He’s now at the point where he has such desire it almost has to be slowed down. He pushes himself so hard that he tends to not know when enough is enough. That’s a great attribute to have, and it’s unusual for a big man. Usually, the bigger you are the less you work because you don’t have to. Alex is a very rare player in that he’s always the hardest worker.”

This season, Herrera leads the nation in total blocks (70), blocks per game (3.68), free-throw attempts (239) and free throws made (163).

He is second in Division II men’s basketball with 13 double-doubles and 453 total points and is sixth in points per game (23.8). Herrera is seventh in the country with 204 total rebounds, eighth in defensive rebounds per game (8.11) and ninth in total rebounds per game (10.7).

The latest accolade adds to a crowded mantle for the Ignacio native, who has been named to the Basketball Times All-America Second Team, Division II Bulletin All-America Fourth Team and Daktronics All-South Central All-Region First Team. He also is a two-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Other than his size, Herrera still wouldn’t stand out on campus. The reserved big man goes about his business like any other college student without letting his basketball skills overshadow his character.

“Alex is a guy to root for because he’s so modest. If you were sitting next to him in a science class, you wouldn’t know he is a basketball player without asking him,” Hofman said. “He doesn’t talk about himself as a player. He’s humble and polite, and everything is about the team over himself. That’s what makes him so special.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com

Jan 28, 2015
Ball, meet FLC’s wall


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