SPOKANE, Wash. – After leading the Whitworth men's basketball team to its third straight NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament, Ross Nakamura has been named to the D3hoops.com All-Region Team as a Third Team honoree.

Click here for the entire D3hoops.com All-Region team. The team is selected by a vote of in-region sports information directors.

Nakamura (Sr., Moraga, Calif.) has led the NWC in assist-to-turnover ratio each of his two seasons at Whitworth after transferring from Diablo Valley College in Concord, Calif. He led NCAA DIII in the category last year and is fourth in the nation this year with 3.07 assists for every turnover. What makes those numbers even more remarkable is the fact that he has led the conference in minutes played each of the last two seasons as well, this year averaging almost 37 minutes per game. Nakamura averaged 12.1 points and 4.9 assists per game this season, while making 40.7% of his three-point attempts. He scored a game-high 24 points in the Pirates' win at Puget Sound in the NWC Tournament final that send Whitworth into the NCAA tournament. Nakamura was also a First Team All-NWC choice this season.

The Pirates finished with a 23-6 record and advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Division III tournament, the team's third straight national tournament appearance and fourth all-time. Whitworth was 44-13 during Nakamura's two seasons as a player.

Nakamura's selection mean's Whitworth has had an All-Region honoree seven of the eight years that D3hoops.com has been producing an all-region team.