Dec. 10, 2012

2012-13 MBB Weekly Report

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Atlantic 10 Conference has named Dayton senior Kevin Dillard and La Salle junior Tyreek Duren its men's basketball Co-Players of the Week.  The league also named Butler freshman Kellen Dunham its Rookie of the Week. The awards were announced Monday for games played during the week of Dec. 3-9.

Dillard was also named ESPN.com's national player of the week after averaging 20.0 points and 5.0 assists in leading UD to wins at Alabama and Miami (Ohio). The guard from Chicago also shot .417 (5-of-12) from 3-point range and .917 (11-of-12) at the line. Dillard scored a career-high 25 points at Alabama along with four rebounds and six assists. He was 4-for-4 from the line in the last two minutes of the win in Tuscaloosa to help hold off the Crimson Tide comeback. He is now 10-for-10 from the charity stripe in the last two minutes this season.

Duren scored a career-high 29 points in La Salle's 82-57 victory over Penn State last Wednesday. The Philadelphia native added 12 points, all in the econd half in a narrow win at Northeastern, including a fadeaway jumper with 1.2 seconds left to break a tie and give La Salle a 66-64 road win. The guard totaled seven assists and five steals for the week, shot .565 (13-of-23) from the field and was nearly perfect at the line, shooting .909 (10-of-11) in the two Explorer victories.

Dunham, who earned his second rookie award this year, helped Butler to a pair of victories with two double-figures scoring performances.  He came off the bench against IUPUI and shared the team scoring lead with 17 points.  He hit 5-of-7 shots in the win, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.  The Pendleton, Ind., native then came off the bench at Northwestern and posted 11 points, while matching his career rebounding high with five boards.  A guard, Dunham hit 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to help the Bulldogs hold off Northwestern's comeback.  He ran his current streak of consecutive free throws made to 25 in a row.

A-10 Weekly Honor Roll

Butler senior Andrew Smith averaged 17.5 points in wins over IUPUI and Northwestern last week, grabbing 10 boards for a double-double versus Northwestern ... Chris Braswell kept Charlotte perfect with the best start in school history (9-0), scoring 15 points at Davidson and grabbing 12 boards against Central Michigan ... Braswell's freshman teammate Willie Clayton averaged 11.0 points with 7.5 rebounds per game in the 49ers two wins ... Dayton freshman Dyshawn Pierre shot 77.8 percent from the field and scored 12 points against Miami (Ohio) to help the Flyers to a 2-0 week ...  Sean Johnson averaged 17.0 points with a perfect 8-of-8 at the line in a split week for Duquesne ... Ryan Canty had a 15-point, 16-rebound double-double to lead Fordham to a strong effort against St. John's ... Isaiah Armwood averaged a double-double, nearly helping GW to a win over Kansas State in a thrilling team effort, including a near triple-double (12 points, 10 rebounds, seven blocks) versus the Wildcats ... GW freshman Patricio Garino scored a career-high 24 points at Bradley, hitting 10-of-17 from the field with six rebounds and three blocks ... UMass' Jesse Morgan scored 18 points, tallying four 3-pointers and six rebounds to lead the Minutemen to a win at Northeastern ... Rhode Island freshman Jordan Hare scored 14 points with a nearly perfect 6-of-7 from the field in Rhody's loss at Providence ... Cedrick Lindsay averaged 16.0 points and an amazing 9.0 assists for Richmond in a pair of in-state wins, including a 13-point, 11-assist outing at JMU ... Saint Joseph's C.J. Aiken scored 14 points and had nine rebounds and four blocks in the Hawks' win over Coppin State ... Cody Ellis led Saint Louis with a 17-point, six-rebound performance in a win over North Texas, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 at the line ... TU freshman Quenton DeCosey scored 13 points versus No. 2 Duke, hitting 5-of-6 from the field, and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc ... Troy Daniels was on fire from long range in VCU's win at Old Dominion, hitting 8-of-13 from 3-point distance for 24 points.