COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --- South Dakota School of Mines junior Logan Elers was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of The Week announced Monday by the league office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 
Elers, a 6-foot-7-inch forward from Rotorua, New Zealand, had a big weekend on the defensive side of the ball, collecting a total of 31 rebounds in a split at Goodell Gymnasium in Rapid City, South Dakota, during RMAC action.
 
The Metallurgical Engineering major registered 13 rebounds, (nine defensive, four offensive) against the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves in a 78-60 rout on Friday. Elers played a big role in shutting down CSUP under the basket and helped his team with a well-earned victory.
 
That was followed on Saturday with an even more impressive 18-rebound total (10 defensive, eight offensive) as well as a blocked shot --- on top of a double-double as Elers collected 13 markers in the close contest against one of the RMAC's top teams in the New Mexico Highlands Cowboys. SD Mines came up just short in a dramatic ending, 73-70.
 
"Logan is competing at a very high level at this point in the season and is really a force to be reckoned with under the basket," said Hardrocker head coach Eric Glenn. "It's easy to see why he was chosen by the conference as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week. Our team is playing its best basketball right now and a key factor that contributes to that is the consistent performance from Logan."
 
Elers leads the team in rebounding, with 133 on the season and is averaging 6.3 a game. He is also third on the team in scoring averaging 11.6 points per game.