Race Shaping Performances

Performances That Are Shaping League Races

(St. Louis, MO) – Weekly award winners turned in race shaping performances. The Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences have completed the first third of their conference races and stars are emerging and the there is starting to be some clarity about the league standings.

Two teams remain undefeated in the OVC and two teams have just one loss in the MVC. Each league has one winless team. The Valley is a bit more congested with eight teams within two games of first place, while the OVC just five.

Missouri Valley Conference

Northern Iowa and Loyola are tied for the Valley’s top spot and UNI sophomore A.J. Green continues to turn in race shaping performances. Green averaged 27 points per game during the Panthers’ two wins and earned his third ‘Player of the Week‘ award in the last five weeks. The 6’4 guard scored 25 points in a first place battle with Bradley and 29 points in a showdown with the league’s other super sophomore, Javon Freeman-Liberty and the Valparaiso Crusaders.

Third place Bradley (13-6, 4-2) earned a key road victory before dropping a home battle with Northern Iowa. Sparking the victory and playing brilliantly in the loss, Danya Kingsby earned this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ award. Kingsby scored a career high 28 points against the Panthers.

Ohio Valley Conference

Surprising Eastern Kentucky (7-12, 4-2) is one of those teams just two games out of first place. One of the reasons is the play of sophomore Jomaru Brown. The 6’2 guard scored a career-high 25 points in the Colonels’ loss to Belmont and topped that with 37 points in a road win at Tennessee State. A preseason ‘All-OVC’ selection earned this week’s ‘Player of the Week‘ award. This is his second weekly honor.

Jacksonville State split two road games and forward Kayne Henry recorded his first two collegiate double-doubles. This week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ is a 6’7 transfer from Northwest Florida State College. He averaged 19 points and 14 rebounds in those hostile environments while connecting on 61.5% of his shots.

Austin Peay and Murray State are both 6-0 and APSU’s Jordyn Adams is having an outstanding freshman season. The Silsbee, Texas native earned his fifth ‘Freshman of the Week‘ award by sparking the Governors to two road victories. His 31 points at UT Martin included a OVC season best seven three-pointers and the 6’2 guard is the OVC’s highest scoring freshman (16.3 points per game).