PacWest Weekly Awards (Feb. 19)

IRVINE, Calif. – Junior guard Treylon Payne of Academy of Art men's basketball was named the Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week as the team went 2-0 which included a detour out of conference as the squad squared up the NCAA Division III opponent UC Santa Cruz on Feb. 13 and a home match where the team hosted UH Hilo which resulted in a dominant 100-68 victory for ART U on Feb. 17. The award is for games played from Feb. 12 - Feb. 18.

Payne was in a defensive category of his own against the Vulcans, as the Little Rock, Ark. native collected six steals to tie the program's single-game record with four in the first half while he added on a block to be the key defensive threat in the huge win for the Knights. Riding his defense, Payne also recorded the team-high in points (17) to create easy buckets for himself and his team to elevate their lead to 18 points as the game entered halftime, a lead ART U would build to as much as 35 points in the second frame.

"Trey's defensive performance this week set the tone for us going 2-0," said Head Coach Scott Waterman. "His on-ball and off-ball positioning was spot on and allowed him to come up with six steals which were critical in our win versus Hilo."

This is the second such honor of the season for Payne as he also was named the Defender of the Week on Dec. 4 of this season, and it is the fifth PacWest Defender of the Week award for ART U in the campaign (Latrell Williams on Jan. 8 and Jan. 22, Isaiah Williams on Feb. 5). Payne now joins Latrell Williams as the only member of ART U to be a two-time winner of a PacWest award this season.