For the second time this season, Eastern Washington University men's basketball player Linton Acliese III has been named the ROAR Organic Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, as announced this afternoon (Feb. 22). Acliese shares the award with Idaho's Rashad Smith.
 
Acliese has brought home both of the Player of the Week honors for the Eagles this season, previously winning on Jan. 4 after two road wins over Portland State and Northern Arizona. The Richmond, Calif., native helped Eastern Washington finish 1-1 over the weekend, including an overtime victory against first-place Montana State that snapped an 11-game Bobcat winning streak.
 
In Thursday's game against the Bobcats, Acliese helped lift the Eagles to victory with a 38-point performance. The mark is the most points scored by a Big Sky player this season, and ranks tied for 14^th all-time in EWU single game history. He was 13-for-19 (68.4%) from the field, 5-for-10 (50%) from three-point range and 7-for-8 from the free throw line (87.5%). He also added eight rebounds, a block and an assist.
 
On Saturday, Eastern Washington narrowly lost to Idaho by a score of 83-80. In the game, Acliese poured on 20 points on 8-for-14 (57.1%) from the field plus a perfect four-for-four from the free throw line. He finished the game with eight boards and two assists.
 
Over the two games, Acliese averaged 29.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. He shot 63.6 percent from the field (21-33) and was 11-12 (91.7%) from the free throw line, plus made five three-pointers. He also added 1.5 assists and 0.5 blocks per game.
 
Currently, Acliese ranks seventh in the Big Sky in points (16.2) per game and sixth in rebounds (6.9) per game. He's scored in double figures in 21 out of the 24 games he has played in, including 14 out of the last 15, to go with five double-doubles. He has scored in 20-or-more points in nine games, including two with 30, scoring in double figures in every conference contest he's played in except for one.
 
Acliese leads the Big Sky in both overall field goal (153-288, 53.1%) and free throw (65-75, 86.7%) percentage, ranking 55^th and 44^th nationally in those categories.
 
The Eagles are on the road this week for their final regular season road contests, first taking on Northern Colorado on Thursday night at 5 p.m. before playing at Sacramento State on Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern's final home games take place prior to the conference tournament on Thursday, March 3 against Portland State and Saturday, March 5 against Northern Arizona.