Climbing the Charts

Veteran Players Making Legacy Marks

(St. Louis, MO) – Veteran Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley Conference players are moving up both the career and season rankings. Players from both leagues are climbing the charts and receiving weekly awards. Morehead State’s Jordan Walker may be the biggest ‘boxscore filler’, stat stuffer and versatile player in either of our leagues.

Ohio Valley Conference

Walker is this week’s ‘Player of the Week‘ for averaging 21.5 points and six rebounds during the Eagles’ two victories. However, what casual observers of the OVC don’t realize is that Walker has quietly had a spectacular career. The 6′ senior is second to Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor among the OVC’s active scorers (1408 points), he’s third in career rebounds (348), second in assists (256), first in steals (122) and in three-pointers (192). Walker is one of MSU’s all-time greats.

Walker stands 18th on the Eagles’ all-time scoring list, thirteenth in assists, eleventh in steals, twelfth in made free throws and fourth in triples.

For the second time this season, Eastern Kentucky’s Ty Taylor and UT Martin’s Parker Stewart are sharing the ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ award. It is the fifth time Stewart has been so honored. Taylor averaged over 20 points per game while the Colonels were sweeping their two games. Stewart averaged 25.5 points per game. His 33-point performance was his fourth time eclipsing the 30-point mark.

Austin Peay’s Jordyn Adams in climbing the charts of the most ‘Freshman of the Week‘ awards. The 6’ rookie has nabbed three straight weekly awards and seven overall. Last week Adams helped the Governors to a pair of victories. He averaged just 15 points per game while his conference season average is over 20 points per game. While seven is an impressive number, Adams is four weekly awards shy of EKU’s Matt Witt’s all-time record of 11 rookie awards.

Missouri Valley Conference

As Southern Illinois continues to shock the MVC World, Eric McGill is this week’s ‘Player of the Week‘. The 6’2 senior averaged 23 points while the Salukis swept last season’s co-champions (Loyola and Drake). McGill made 67% of his shots and made all six of his three-point attempts during SIU’s (13-10, 7-3) unlikely sweep.

Illinois State’s Keith Fisher emerged from a season-long struggle to average 17.5 points and eight rebounds as the Redbirds snapped their losing streak during a 1-1 week. Fisher scored 16 points in the Redbird win over Evansville and posted a career-high 19 points in the team’s loss at Valparaiso. Fisher is this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘.