Nov. 19, 2012

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 Conference named Saint Joseph’s junior Ronald Roberts its men’s Basketball Player of the Week and Dayton’s Dyshawn Pierre and Joe McDonald of George Washington its Co-Rookies of the Week Monday. The awards are for games played during the week of Nov. 12-18.

Roberts was named to the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Tournament Team after posting three consecutive double-doubles to help the Hawks to two season-opening wins, including an overtime upset of No. 20 Notre Dame. The Bayonne, N.J., native tallied 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against the Fighting Irish, recording a personal best 11-for-16 from the foul line. The forward scored seven of the Hawks’ 13 points in the overtime period in the win. He had 10 points and 12 rebounds in the season opener against Yale and finished the week with 15 points and 11 boards against Florida State. He was 6-of-8 (.750) from the field versus the Seminoles. Roberts earned a spot in the starting rotation after coming off the bench last year and being named the A-10’s Sixth Man of the Year.

Pierre averaged 11.3 points and shot .632 from the field and .500 from beyond the arc in a 2-1 week for the Flyers, who beat Boston College and Auburn. The bulk of Pierre’s points came in a historic game against Boston College in which he scored 23 points while shooting 8-for-8 from the field, 5-for-5 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.  The Whitby, Ontario, native is just the sixth NCAA basketball player (and the first freshman, and the first Canadian) since 1996-97 to make at least eight field goals, five 3-pointers and two free throws without missing a single shot.  This was also the first career start for the freshman forward. Pierre’s 5-for-5 game from beyond the arc was also the second-best in UD history.

In just his second collegiate game, McDonald led all players with 21 points and added seven rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes to lift George Washington to a 72-59 victory at Boston University.  Hailing from Lorton, Va., McDonald made all eight of his free throw attempts and his lone three-pointer while finishing 6-of-9 from the field.  The freshman guard’s 21 points were the most for a GW rookie since Nemanja Mikic netted 23 points against UNC Wilmington in Nov. 2010.  He scored 12 of his 21 points and grabbed five rebounds in the second half to help the Colonials keep the Terriers at bay.

Charlotte’s Chris Braswell scored 21 points and had 12 rebound in a win over Georgia Southern … Freshman Denzel Ingram from Charlotte tallied 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting against Lamar … Kevin Dillard averaged 14.7 points, including a 20-point outburst against Auburn to lead Dayton’s scoring efforts last week … Chris Johnson led St. Bonaventure with a pair of 19-point performances, shooting 66.7 percent from the field in a 1-1 week for the Bonnies … Temple’s Scootie Randall scored 31 points in a win over Kent State and then had 16 versus Rice. The senior went 11-12 from the line in the two games …VCU’s Juvonte Reddic averaged 19.5 points, including a 22-point, 10-rebounds double-double versus Wichita State.