OVC/MVC Top Performers

Leading Scorers Honored

(St. Louis, MO) – Scoring twenty points in a Division 1 basketball game is not easy, but this week’s OVC/MVC top performers turned the trick with seeming ease. During the season’s second week, we were reintroduced to players and learned some more about some dynamic new ones.

OVC/MVC Top Performers – Players of the Week

Tennessee State’s Aaron Nkrumah is a known commodity. The 6’6 senior was a double-digit scorer last season and after clearing up some eligibility issues is performing at a high level. Nkrumah averaged 23.5 points and seven rebounds last week and is third in the OVC’s scoring race (18.5 ppg). The ‘Player of the Week’ made 13 of 15 free throw attempts.

Murray State guard Javon Jackson was the Valley’s top scorer averaging 24.5 points while connecting on 16 of seventeen trips to the charity stripe. The Illinois Chicago transfer is tied for the MVC’s top scoring average (20.25 ppg). This week’s ‘Player of the Week’ isn’t eligible to be the ‘Newcomer’ since he played in the Valley last season.

Explosive Newcomers

Southern Indiana’s Ismail Habib produced twenty points and three boards and is the OVC’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’. The Portland State transfer is second in the league with a 19.0 scoring average after his forty point week.

The player tied with Jackson for the MVC scoring lead is this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’. Southern Illinois’ Quel’Ron House scored 22 points during the Salukis’ narrow, overtime loss to Nevada. The Jacksonville State transfer is enjoying an outstanding start to the season. He ranks in the Valley’s top ten in steals and assists.

Top Rookies

Our first, two-time weekly award winner is Tennessee Martin’s Matas Deniusas. The 6’9 Lithuanian forward is once again the OVC’s ‘Freshman of the Week’. He scored twenty points during the Skyhawks’ upset victory at Bradley. His 20-point performance is the first by a UT Martin freshman since 2021. Deniusas ranks thirteenth in both scoring and rebounding and is the OVC’s fifth best free throw shooter.

There are an abundance of outstanding freshmen in the Missouri Valley Conference and this week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ is Valparaiso’s Rakim Chaney. While the Beacons were winning their two games last week, Chaney scored 24 and 18 points. He grabbed fourteen rebounds in those two games. The 6’3 freshman is the first Beacon rookie to score 18 points, grab eight rebounds and make four threes in one game since the great Alec Peters accomplished the feat in 2013.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of Aaron Nkrumah, courtesy of TSUTigers.com.