MVC/OVC Players of the Week

Taylor & Parker Dominating the OVC

(St. Louis, MO) – Terry Taylor and Parker Stewart continue to dominate the Ohio Valley Conference’s weekly awards and a bounce back weekend for the Missouri Valley produced some new heroes. While the non-conference schedule is winding down, we’re starting to get a feel for what the conference races could look like.

Ohio Valley Conference

For the second straight week, preseason player of the year Terry Taylor pulled in the ‘Player of the Week‘ award. He’s sharing it with Belmont’s Nick Muszynski, but the 6’5 wing is putting together an outstanding season. In Austin Peay’s only game Taylor scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The OVC’s leading scorer (23.3 ppg) is tenth best nationally. He continues to lead the conference in rebounding, collecting 9.3 caroms per game.

Taylor’s co-‘Player of the Week‘ is the Belmont big man. Muszynski scored 30 points against Eastern Washington and another 20 against Middle Tennessee. The Bruins won both games and ‘Moose’ blocked five shots, upping his OVC-leading average to 2.13 per game.

UT Martin’s Parker Stewart earned his third straight ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ award. His combined 34 points in Cancun lifted his season scoring average to 15.9 points per game and his six three-pointers nudged his per-game average to an OVC, fourth best, 2.7 per contest. Stewart leads the 3-4 Skyhawks and is third in the OVC in minutes played (34.7/game).

Austin Peay freshman Carlos Paez made 11 of 12 free throws on his way to a career high 17 points in the Governors’ only game. During his 16-minute performance, he also connected on two of three long range attempts. He is the second Governor to be named the ‘Freshman of the Week‘. Paez follows two-straight weeks, where teammate Jordyn Adams won the award.

Missouri Valley Conference

Javon Freeman-Liberty is making a name for himself. After a season of confusion around the league about his name, the confusion is all gone now. Freeman-Liberty scored 32 points against Cincinnati and is this week’s MVC ‘Player of the Week‘. The 6’3 sophomore nearly left Valparaiso in the offseason, but has returned and is in contention for the ‘Player of the Year’ award. He was named to the Paradise Jam all-tournament team and is the only Valley player to have two games of 30 or more points.

Southern Illinois freshman Marcus Domask is one of four first-year players nationally to average 14 points, four rebounds and three assists per game. This past week, the 6’5 Wisconsin native averaged 19.5 points as the Salukis split two games. He is this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘.