This week’s recap has a bit of a WHACky look after a WHACky week in the WHAC! seriously though, so many great performances across the country! Sophomore of the Week had 14 different nominations, which is a lot of fun! We do usually try to spread the wealth out a bit when selecting our winners, but was hard to go different routes this week with Ave having such a big week! Games matter more this time of year and you can just feel it as you watch games!
Best Win of the Week
#5 Ave Maria (FL) knocks off #6 Keiser, 86-72
5th Ranked Ave Maria went on the road and picked up a huge Sun Conference win over #6 Keiser this past week. After a slow start to the game, Ave was able to push the pace in the 2nd half behind some hot shooting! Jonathan Effertz went bonkers as he finished with 31pts on 7-10 from 3! Ave, after their Saturday win over St Thomas, is now 18-1 on the season!
Upset of the Week
Aquinas defeats #13 Indiana Tech, 85-79.
AQ jumped out early on Tech and were able to hold off every Tech run after that for the upset win! Devin Boyd finished with 26pts, 4rebs, 4assts. Caden Pokorzynski had a 14pt, 10reb double-double in the win!
Game of the Week
Lourdes takes down UNOH, 111-107 in 2OT
This game featured 17 lead changes and 16 ties. Derek Fairley (Lourdes) and Antonio King (UNOH) were both fantastic for their respected teams. Fairley finished with 37pts. 7rebs, 6assts. While King finished with 32pts, 12rebs, 3assts. Just an awesome game that someone unfortunately had to lose!
Offense of the Week
Grace (IN)
#1 Grace stayed red hot as they moved to 19-0 on the season with a 99-81 win over #3 Bethel (IN) and then a 104-83 win over Goshen. In the Bethel win, Grace shot 67% from the field, with 19assts on 37 made field goals. In the Goshen win, the Lancers shot 58% from the field with 26assts on 38 made FGs!
MVP of the Week
Hayden Brittingham, LSU Shreveport
Brittingham is putting together an All-American type season and is a big part of why the Pilots have now won 12 straight games! On the season he is averaging 19.3ppg, 9.9rpg, 2.6apg. This week, Hayden scored 28pts, 8rebs, 3assts, 2stls and 5blks in a big win over OLLU! He followed that up with a 38pt, 12reb, 4asst, 4stl outing against TAMUSA!
Defensive MVP of the Week
Alex Sherwood, Ave Maria (FL)
Sherwood leads the NAIA in blocks and was special, once again, on the defensive end this week! In the win over #6 Keiser, Alex finished with 12rebs (defensive), 6blks, and 1stl to go with 14pts. In the Ave win over St Thomas, Alex had 13rebs (10 defensive), 5blks, 3stls to go with 13pts.
Coach of the Week
Jamon Copeland, Ave Maria (FL)
Coach Copeland led Ave Maria to two more tough road wins this week, including a big road dub over #6 Keiser! The Gyrenes are 18-1 on the season, are currently in 1st place in The Sun Conference and currently sit 5th in the NAIA in ppg at 92.4!
Defense of the Week
Freed-Hardeman (TN)
Freed continues to lock in defensively as they are 4th in the NAIA in DEF EFF rating at .879!
This week, in two wins, the Lions put up some big time defensive performances!
Vs Lindsey Wilson: gave up 60 Points on 33% FG, and forced 22 TO’s.
Vs Campbellsville: gave up 48 Points on 34%FG, and forced 23 TO’s!
Pippen of the Week
Antwon Ferrell, Missouri Valley
Antwon helped Valley pick up a pair of wins this week with two great overall performances! Ferrell has played EVERY single minute of every Heart game this season!
Vs Culver: 14pts, 6rebs, 6assts, 3stls
Vs Mount Mercy: 23pts, 9rebs, 4assts, 2stls
Onions of the Week
Alif Bass, William Penn (IA)
William Penn picked up two more home wins this week to move to 10-0 inside Penn Gymnasium. Both wins came down to the wire, with the first win of the week, over #20 Graceland, coming down to this buzzer beater from Alif Bass!
Sniper of the Week
Jarren Cook, TAMUT
Jarren Cook was cooking’ from 3 this week as he set a school record of 13 made 3’s in the TAMUT win over OLLU! Cook finished with 41pts while going 13-21 from deep! All together, in the two wins, Cook hit 17 3’s on the week!
Stock Riser of the Week
Madonna (MI)
Don’t look now but with another 2-0 week, Madonna has won 5 straight games to move into a tie for 1st place in the WHAC! Madonna hits the road for a pivotal matchup against Lourdes this week. Madonna won the 1st meeting, 85-62!
Rodman of the Week
Jaylen Peters, Loyola (LA)
LUNO picked up two more road wins this week. Jaylen was a beast on the glass and made hustle plays all week! In the win over ABAC, he scored 10pts, had 11rebs, 5assts, 5blks and 2stls. Then in the win vs Thomas, he finished with 3pts, 10rebs, a block and a steal.
Sophomore of the Week
Isaiah Crane, Carroll (MT)
Crane is an absolute bucket and he proved it again this week.
Vs MSU-Northern: 18pts, 4rebs
Vs Providence (MT): 48pts, 3rebs, 3stls
Freshman of the Week
Tyler Raasch, Grace (IN)
Tyler, as a Freshman, continues to have a great Freshman season for Grace! He showed up big again this week, especially in a Top 5 matchup vs #3 Bethel (IN). Tyler finished the game with 27pts, 11rebs, 4blks. He scored 23pts in the 2nd half! Tyler finished his week off with 12pts, 5rebs, 2assts, 1blk outing in the win over Goshen.
Dunk of the Week
Jakari Livingston, TAMUT
The human highlight tape is back with another massive dunk. This time an And 1 Dunk on top of a 6’10 defender.
