Seniors Lead the Way

(St. Louis, MO) – When Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley Conference teams are successful, they are typically led by seniors. The first week of honorees in our two leagues illustrated that point. It was an uneven week for the MVC while OVC favorite Belmont defeated Valley power Illinois State.

Missouri Valley Conference

Bradley started the season with a pair of wins and senior Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye scored a career high 22 points against the OVC’s Southeast Missouri. The defensive stopper tallied twelve against Wisconsin-Parkside while collecting a two game total of five steals and 13 rebounds

The London native was named the Valley’s ‘Player of the Week‘ and reached the 20-point mark for the first time since his freshman season.

Missouri State was perfect in three starts. There are plenty of seniors on that Bears’ squad, but this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ is junior college transfer Keandre Cook. The Odessa College transfer topped 20 points twice and averaged 17.3 points per game. The 6’5 Cook recorded his first D1 double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds) against Robert Morris.

Ohio Valley Conference

Seniors lead the way in the OVC too. Eastern Kentucky’s Nick Mayo exploded with 40 points in head coach A.W. Williams’ first ever coaching victory. Mayo’s 40 points were the most by a Colonel in over 16 years.

A preseason all conference player, Mayo grabbed a career high 15 rebounds in EKU’s loss to Marshall. 35 of Mayo’s 40 points came in the second half of the EKU win at Chattanooga. Mayo is this week’s ‘Player of the Week‘ and leads the league in scoring (33 points per game).

First year coach Brian ‘Penny’ Collins is still looking for his first collegiate win, but one of his players, Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey has won the team’s first weekly award with Collins at the helm. Fitzpatrick-Dorsey scored 26 points in the Tigers’ loss at Lipscomb and is this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week‘.

The Ole Miss transfer converted three of four shots from deep and collected six rebounds.

Tevin Brown didn’t disappoint in his Murray State debut. The 6’6 freshman scored 17 points in the Racers’ win at Wright State. This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week‘ made five shots from long distance and grabbed five rebounds.

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