Winning Games & Weekly Awards

(St. Louis, MO) – ‘To the winners go the spoils’ or so they say. This week’s weekly award winners in the Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley Conferences seem to prove the truth of that axiom. Winning teams produced the weekly award winners, or was it the other way around?

Ohio Valley Conference

The suddenly relevant Eastern Illinois Panthers knocked off two of the top three teams in the OVC’s West Division and they were sparked by the stellar play of Montell Goodwin. The Mineral Area Community College transfer averaged 23 points for the week in wins over UT Martin and Southeast Missouri. EIU (13-13, 5-8) has won two straight games and four of their last five and Goodwin is this week’s ‘Player of the Week‘ AND ‘Newcomer of the Week‘.

The 6’2 guard is tied with Demetrius McReynolds for the Panther lead in scoring (14.7 points per game) which is good for thirteenth in the league. He’s seventh in made three-pointers. While the ‘Newcomer’ award is Goodwin’s second, it is the first time he has received the ‘Player’ status.

Southeast Missouri’s Denzell Mahoney’s late season surge has pressed him into ‘Freshman of the Year‘ running. This week the Oviedo, Florida native picked up his fourth ‘Freshman of the Week‘ award. All of those recognitions have come in the past five weeks. The 6’4 guard averaged 21.5 points and 7.5 rebounds while the Redhawks (12-16, 7-6) split a pair of  games.

Missouri Valley Conference

Shorthanded Illinois State won both of its games last week, and senior guard Paris Lee led the way with a career high 26 points in one game and 14 points in the other. The 6′ point guard also averaged 2.5 assists and two steals in a pair of Redbird (21-5, 13-1) victories. For his efforts Lee received his second ‘Player of the Week‘ award.

Evansville has won three straight games, including two contests last week, and newcomer Ryan Taylor put together another solid week of work. The 6’6 Ohio University transfer averaged 14.5 points per game as the Purple Aces (13-14, 4-10) continued their improved play. For his efforts, Taylor laid claim to his second ‘Newcomer of the Week‘ award. Missouri State’s Alize Johnson has won the award five separate times.

Do Good