SAN BRUNO, Calif. – No. 21 Saint Mary’s nearly swept the major awards for the 2024-25 West Coast Conference men's basketball, as the Conference announced its all-conference teams and major award winners on Tuesday. The Gaels also featured a trio of repeat winners. Randy Bennett won WCC Coach of the Year for the fourth straight year, Augustas Marciulionis was tabbed WCC Player of the Year and Mitchell Saxen won WCC Defensive Player of the Year, each for the second straight year. Fellow Gaels Paulius Murauskas won WCC Newcomer of the Year and Mikey Lewis claimed WCC Sixth Man of the Year. Portland's Austin Rapp won WCC Freshman of the Year.
All six major awards – along with the all-conference teams and the all-freshman team – were voted on solely by the league’s 11 head coaches.
In his 24th season guiding the Gaels, Bennett earned his seventh West Coast Conference Coach of the Year accolade. Bennett guided Saint Mary's to a 17-1 record in conference play en route to winning the regular season crown. Under Bennett's tutelage, SMC has won at least a share of the last three West Coast Conference regular season championships for the first time in program history. Bennett's defense has ranked in the top five for most of the season in overall games, and once again the No. 1 ranked defense in conference games. For the third straight year, Bennett has his Gaels heading to the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship as the No. 1 seed.
Marciulionis started every game for the Gaels. He ranked 10th in the league in scoring, averaging 14. 4 ppg. He also ranked third in the West Coast Conference in assists at 6.1 apg, which also ranks 17th in the nation. Marciulionis boasted seven 20-point performances this season and two double-doubles, one of which came in a win at Oregon State when he posted 18 points and 10 assists. Marciulionis is the first repeat Conference Player of the Year since Gonzaga's Drew Timme in 2021-22 and 2022-23, a shared award for Timme that year. The last time a West Coast Conference player won outright back-to-back Player of the Year awards was Blake Stepp in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Marciulionis is the 14th West Coast Conference Player to win Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons.
Saxen started every game, finishing as the team and conference second leading rebounder at 8.0 rebounds per game, behind only his teammate Murauskas and his average of 8.1 rpg. Saxen reached double figures in scoring 18 times and double-digit rebounds on 13 occasions. He was also fourth in the West Coast Conference in blocks at 1.2 bpg. This is the third straight year that a Gael won Defensive Player of the Year (Logan Johnson). Since the award's inception in 1998-98, Saxen is only the second back-to-back award winner (Diamon Simpson, Saint Mary's, 2007-08, 2008-09).
One of the West Coast Conference's standout players in his first season in the league, Murauskas has started every game for the Gaels, pacing the West Coast Conference in rebounding (8.1). Murauskas, a one-time Heluva Good Dip West Coast Conference Player of the Week this season, notched 30 points as part of a double-double (10 rebounds) in a home win over Washington State. He secured 20 points in a game on six different occasions. The transfer from Arizona was tied for the league lead in double-doubles with Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard with 12, which also ranked tied for 22nd in the nation. He is the first Gael to win this award since Joe Rahon in 2015-16.
Another first-year Gael who made a name for himself, Lewis played in all 31 games this season off the bench. He averaged 8.6 points with 20 assists, 20 steals and seven blocks. He was named Heluva Good Dip West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week four times during the regular season. Lewis is the second Gael to win West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year since the award started in 2020-21 (Tommy Kuhse, 2021-22).
A league-leading six-time Heluva Good Dip West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week, nobody made more three-pointers in the West Coast Conference this season than the 79 by Rapp. The 79 treys also rank second in the nation among freshmen. Rapp reached double figures in scoring in all but seven games he played in this season. He started 29 of the 30 games he played. His 13.7 ppg average ranked second among the Pilots and he paced his squad in rebounding at 6.5 rpg.
This is the third straight year Saxen made the all-conference first team. It was also the second straight appearance on the all-conference first team for Marciulionis, Nembhard, Gonzaga's Graham Ike, Santa Clara's Adama-Alpha Bal and San Francisco's Marcus Williams.
Saint Mary's and Gonzaga led the way with three first-team all-conference selections each, while the Dons notched two. Seven of the first-team honorees were selected to the 2024-25 WCC Preseason Team, as well (Bal, Hickman Ike, Marciulionis, Nembhard, Saxen, Williams).
2024-25 All-WCC Men’s Basketball Major Awards
Player of the Year: Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary's
Coach of the Year: Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
Defensive Player of the Year: Mitchell Saxen, Saint Mary's
Newcomer of the Year: Paulius Murauskas, Saint Mary's
Sixth Man of the Year: Mikey Lewis, Saint Mary's
Freshman of the Year: Austin Rapp, Portland
2024-25 All-WCC Men’s Basketball First Team
| Name |
Yr. |
Pos. |
School |
| Adama-Alpha Bal |
Sr. |
G |
Santa Clara |
| Nolan Hickman |
Sr. |
G |
Gonzaga |
| Graham Ike |
Sr. |
F |
Gonzaga |
| Augustas Marciulionis |
Sr. |
G |
Saint Mary's |
| Paulius Murauskas |
So. |
F |
Saint Mary's |
| Ryan Nembhard |
Sr. |
G |
Gonzaga |
| Michael Rataj |
Jr. |
F |
Oregon State |
| Mitchell Saxen |
Sr. |
C |
Saint Mary's |
| Malik Thomas |
Sr. |
G |
San Francisco |
| Marcus Williams |
Sr. |
G |
San Francisco |
2024-25 All-WCC Men’s Basketball Second Team
| Name |
Yr. |
Pos. |
School |
| Parsa Fallah |
Jr. |
C |
Oregon State |
| Max Mackinnon |
Jr. |
G |
Portland |
| Carlos Stewart Jr. |
Sr. |
G |
Santa Clara |
| Christoph Tilly |
Jr. |
C |
Santa Clara |
| Lamar Washington |
Jr. |
G |
Pacific |
2024-25 All-WCC Men’s Basketball Freshman Team
| Name |
Pos. |
School |
| Tony Duckett |
G |
San Diego |
| Mikey Lewis |
G |
Saint Mary's |
| Austin Rapp |
F |
Portland |
| Tyrone Riley IV |
G |
San Francisco |
| Tomas Thrastarson |
G |
Washington State |
2024-25 WCC Men’s Basketball Honorable Mention Selections
Luke Barrett, Saint Mary's
Nate Calmese, Washington State
Nate Kingz, Oregon State
Jevon Porter, LMU
Caleb Stone-Carrawell, LMU
Stefan Todorovic, Pepperdine
Lejuan Watts, Washington State