(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
Montell Goodwin – eiupanthers.com
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
Twitter Feed
Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
