SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – Santa Clara men's basketball junior guard Adama-Alpha Bal earned a spot on the 2023-24 WCC Men's Basketball All-Conference First Team, as announced by the conference on Tuesday. He is one of four Broncos to be honored by the league's coaches, joined by All-WCC Honorable Mention selections Carlos Marshall, Jr. and Christoph Tilly, and Jake Ensminger, who was named to the league's All-Freshman team.
 
This is the fourth-straight season that at least one Bronco has earned first team honors.
 
A native of Le Mans, France, Bal had an outstanding debut season for the Broncos. He led the team and ranked seventh in the WCC in scoring at 14.5 points per game. He also ranked eighth in the league with 3.1 assists per outing. Bal tallied a team-high eight 20-point efforts throughout the season and tied for the team lead with 20 double figure scoring games.
 
Marshall, Jr. also tallied 20 double figure scoring games on the year, including a high of 29 on the road against San Jose State where he tied the program record of nine made treys. He finished the regular season second on the team at 12.8 points per game (15^th in WCC) on 47.7 percent shooting and a team-best 41.8. percent mark from 3-point range.
 
A sophomore from Berlin, Tilly had a breakout season with 26 starts on the year. The big man averaged 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds for the season and was even more productive in conference play with 10.1 points per game. He logged 12 double figure scoring games with a high of 22 against Portland, and scored 16 or more in two of the last three games of the year.
 
After missing the entirety of his freshman season due to injury, Ensminger made his collegiate debut this season as a redshirt freshman and got better and better as the year progressed. The Ulm, Germany native averaged 5.3 points and ranked ninth in the WCC with 6.5 rebounds in league play. He started six of the last seven games of the regular season during which he tallied two double-doubles and posted four straight games with at least 10 rebounds and four assists.
 
Santa Clara concluded the regular-season with a 19-12 overall record and 10-6 in league play. They will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship and will play the winner between No. 5 San Diego and No.8 Pepperdine/No. 9 Pacific on Saturday, March 9, at 7:00 p.m. PT. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
 
The full list of 2023-24 WCC Men's Basketball Awards and All-Conference Teams are below.
 
Coach of the Year - Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
Player of the Year - Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary's
Defensive Player of the Year - Mitchell Saxen, Saint Mary's
Freshman of the Year - Ryan Beasley, San Francisco
Newcomer of the Year - Jonathan Mogbo, San Francisco
Sixth Man of the Year - Deuce Turner, San Diego
 
All-Conference Team
First Team
Michael Ajayi, Pepperdine
Adama-Alpha Bal, Santa Clara
Graham Ike, Gonzaga
Aidan Mahaney, Saint Mary's
Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary's
Jonathan Mogbo, San Francisco
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga
Mitchell Saxen, Saint Mary's
Anton Watson, Gonzaga
Marcus Williams, San Francisco
 
Second Team
Alex Ducas, Saint Mary's
Nolan Hickman, Gonzaga
Wayne McKinney III, San Diego
Tyler Robertson, Portland
Deuce Turner, San Diego
 
Honorable Mention
Joshua Jefferson, Saint Mary's
Houston Mallette, Pepperdine
Carlos Marshall Jr., Santa Clara
Alex Merkviladze, LMU
Ndewedo Newbury, San Francisco
Jevon Porter, Pepperdine
Malik Thomas, San Francisco
Christoph Tilly, Santa Clara
 
All-Freshman Team
Ryan Beasley, San Francisco
Jake Ensminger, Santa Clara
Tyler Harris, Portland
Braden Huff, Gonzaga
Kevin Patton Jr., San Diego