A pair of Nevada men’s basketball guards, Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge, earned All-Mountain West honors, the conference announced Monday.
Sherfield, in his first season with the Wolf Pack after transferring from Wichita State last spring, was dubbed the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and was named to the All-Mountain West first team, while Cambridge was named to the All-Mountain West third team.
Voters of the conference were asked to vote on conference-only statistics. In 17 conference games, Sherfield led the Mountain West in both scoring (18.2 ppg) and assists (6.6 apg), shooting 42.6 percent from the floor, 32.6 percent from the 3-point line and 88.8 percent from the free-throw line. He finished T-4 with UNLV’s Bryce Hamilton and Cheikh Mbacke-Diong in steals (1.5 spg) in such games.
On the season, the 6-foot-2 guard placed second in the conference with 18.0 points and 1.6 steals, while dishing out a conference-best 6.2 assists per game. He has had 11 20-point performances — nine against Mountain West foes — and two double-doubles, the latest coming on Feb. 5 versus Boise State where he had 20 points (on 9-16 shooting) with 14 assists.
Cambridge is also in his first year of eligibility with the Pack after transferring from Brown. In conference play, Cambridge posted the seventh-best scoring output at 16.4 points per game, adding 4.8 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He shot 41.3 percent from the floor, 35.5 percent from beyond the arc and 89.1 percent from the charity stripe. His 44 made 3-pointers in conference bouts and his 2.6 made 3-pointers per game in conference bouts both rank among the Top-5 in the Mountain West.
Like Sherfield, Cambridge appeared in all 24 regular season contests. He has tallied figures of 15.7 points, 4.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 30.7 minutes per game, knocking down 40.6 percent of his attempts and 34.8 percent from 3-point range.
Cambridge has seven games of 20-plus points — five coming in Mountain West play — with one double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) on Jan. 17 versus Fresno State. The 6-foot-4 guard has tallied 16 games with multiple made 3-pointers — trailing UNLV’s David Jenkins Jr. and San Diego State’s Jordan Schakel for the most in the conference.
Nevada, who will be the No. 5-seed with a 10-7 conference record (15-9 overall) entering the Mountain West Tournament this week, has greatly benefited from the dynamic backcourt duo. Nevada will face No. 4-seed Boise State Thursday, March 11 at 2:30 p.m. PST on CBS Sports Network in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.