SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Susquehanna University junior forward/center Phil Sander has been named to the Middle Atlantic Conference men’s basketball Weekly Honor Roll for the week ending March 1, the conference office has announced.

Sander (Hancock, NY/Walton Central H.S.) shot 12-for-16 from the field and averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks as the Crusaders advanced to the Commonwealth Conference finals before losing 92-86 to Elizabethtown in the championship game.

Sander made his first start of the season in the conference semifinals against Lebanon Valley on Wednesday and tallied nine points, six rebounds and three blocks in just 19 minutes of action as the Crusaders knocked off the Flying Dutchmen 73-61.

He then scored a career-high 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting with a season-high 11 rebounds and four blocks against Elizabethtown, hitting his first four shots from the field in the game’s first four minutes as Susquehanna connected on its first nine field goal attempts before Etown rallied in the second half to capture the win.

Sander averaged 5.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks and shot 64.7 percent from the field in 20 games after missing the season’s first six games while studying in London during the fall semester. Over the Crusaders’ last eight games, Sander averaged 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots while shooting 68.2 percent from the field.

The Crusaders (18-8 overall, 11-3 Commonwealth) won their first outright Commonwealth Conference regular-season championship in the league’s 10-year history and won 13 of their last 15 games after starting the season 5-6.