We’ve partnered with City Edge Community to focus on the most effective gamers in HBCU Division I males’s and ladies’s basketball every week.
February is right here and the probabilities to win an HBCU Participant of the Week award are dwindling.
So, it was a bit imply that two gamers who’ve already gained the award this 12 months determined to dominate once more this week and safe the award… once more. However athletes of this high quality are by no means happy.
Listed below are Opta Analyst’s HBCU Gamers of the Week.
Males’s Participant of the Week: Blake Harper, Howard
Howard misplaced its solely recreation in heartbreaking trend this week, falling to Hampton 80-79 in additional time. Nevertheless, it’s onerous to think about Harper may’ve finished extra.
The freshman completed with a career-high 35 factors on 7-of-15 capturing. When you’re questioning how seven discipline targets acquired Harper to 35 factors, the reply lies in the truth that he was 20 of twenty-two from the free-throw line.
The 20 free throws made had been the second most by a Division I participant this 12 months, simply behind Wisconsin guard John Tonje’s 21 towards Arizona.
Harper performed 42 minutes within the loss and it’s onerous to explain how troublesome it’s for a participant to maintain his vitality degree excessive sufficient to continually draw fouls whereas enjoying that many minutes in a recreation. Time and time once more, Hampton couldn’t preserve defenders in entrance of Harper, and he drew sufficient contact to get to the road. And he remodeled 90% of his free throws when he acquired there.
It was Harper’s late-game heroics that acquired the sport to additional time within the first place. He accomplished a 3-point play with 57 seconds left to tie the sport. Then, after Hampton’s Noah Farrakhan made a pair of free throws, Harper drove for the game-tying layup with 33 seconds left. A defensive cease by Howard pressured the sport into OT.
In additional time, Harper scored 9 of Howard’s 10 factors, all on free throws, however a free throw by Wayne Bristol Jr. with 8 seconds left gave Hampton the win.
There isn’t one other freshman within the MEAC near Harper’s degree. He’s averaging 19.4 factors and Maryland East Shore’s Kyrell Shaw is second amongst MEAC freshmen in scoring common at 7.2. In reality, Harper is third within the NCAA in scoring common amongst certified freshmen.
Girls’s Participant of the Week: Laila Lawrence, Coppin State
Lawrence has been a quantity scorer for Coppin State for many of her profession, however she reached new heights this week.
In a dominating 90-57 over Delaware State, Lawrence was the most effective participant on the ground. She had 31 factors whereas nobody else on both crew had greater than 15.
The 31 factors had been a profession excessive and that’s saying so much coming from the second-best scorer within the MEAC this 12 months. Lawrence was environment friendly, too, capturing 11 of 20 from the sector and solely turning the ball over as soon as. She added 11 rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Turnovers have been the Achilles’ heel for Lawrence this 12 months, however she was capable of keep away from them on this recreation. It was solely the fourth time this season Lawrence had had one turnover or fewer. When she’s capable of keep away from turning the ball over, she turns into a fair deadlier offensive participant for the Eagles.
Coming off a detailed win at Morgan State, it might have been straightforward for Coppin State to have a let down at house towards Delaware State. However Lawrence made positive that didn’t occur, because the Eagles vaulted to 3rd within the MEAC with a 4-2 convention file.
If she will be able to proceed to care for the ball and drive the offense, the Eagles will proceed to be an element within the MEAC down the stretch.
