November 23
John Taylor - Guard - St. Norbert
Jr. - Vernon Hills, Ill.
John Taylor has helped lead the Green Knights to a 3-0 start. Taylor averaged 14.3 points, 4.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. He shot 50 percent (11-22) from the floor, 66.7 percent (16-9) on 3-pointers and 93.8 percent (15-16) at the free-throw line. The Green Knights earned a 112-73 win over Silver Lake, a 60-52 win over No. 24-ranked UW-Oshkosh and a hard fought 63-61 road win at CCIW power Elmhurst. It is St. Norbert’s first 3-0 start since 1994-95.
November 30
John Hoch - Guard - Carroll University
Sr. - Colgate, Wis.
Senior John Hoch scored a combined 60 points in leading the Carroll University men’s basketball team to wins over Wisconsin Lutheran College and Concordia (WI) University. Hoch recorded a double-double (21 points and 10 assists) in a 100-83 win over Wisconsin Lutheran then scored a career-high 39 points in a 78-73 come-from-behind win over Concordia. In the game against WLC, Hoch moved into the top 10 on Carroll’s all-time scoring list with 1,078 points. The wins improve the Pioneers to 3-1 on the season.
December 7
David Steward - Forward - Illinois College
Sr. - Decatur, Ill.
Stewart had a huge weekend in helping Illinois College complete a sweep of its opening two Midwest Conference games. On Friday, the senior forward posted 20 points and seven rebounds in the Blueboys’ 74-59 win over Carroll University. The following day, Stewart poured in a career-high 32 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and posted three steals and three assists to lead IC to a 94-86 overtime win over Lawrence University. For the weekend, Stewart made 22 of his 34 field goal attempts, including four of eight from 3-point range. He is currently the Blueboys’ second-leading scorer (17.7 points per game) and is leading the team in rebounding (7.7 per game).
December 14
Jacob Tucker - Guard - Illinois College
Jr. - Carlyle, Ill.
Junior, guard Jacob Tucker posted 20 points, six rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in the Blueboys’ 89-88 win over Monmouth College. He is currently the Blueboys’ leading scorer (19.4 points per game) and is third on the team in rebounding (6.1 per game). Illinois College advanced this week to first in Midwest Conference play with a 3-0 record and a 6-1 overall record.
January 4
John Dekker - Forward - Lawrence University
Sr. - Sheboygan, Wis.
Dekker led Lawrence to a pair of wins during the Vikings’ winter break trip to Florida. Dekker averaged 21 points and 9 rebounds as Lawrence defeated Trinity (Fla.) and Florida College. Dekker scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Lawrence’s 72-58 victory at Trinity on Dec. 17. Dekker followed that performance with 23 points and nine rebounds in a 96-52 rout of Florida College on Dec. 18. The 44-point win for Lawrence was the Vikings’ biggest margin of victory since a 53-point (92-39) drubbing of Goucher on Dec. 29, 2005.
January 11
David Steward - Sr. Forward
Jacob Tucker - Jr. Guard
Illinois College
Senior forward David Stewart and junior guard Jacob Tucker had identical games in the 116-112 win over Grinnell College posting a combined 58 points shooting 81.5 percent (22-27) from the floor and 100 percent (13-13) from the free-throw line. Stewart had 29 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal while Tucker matched him with 29 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Illinois College advanced this week to a 4-0 Midwest Conference record and a 8-3 overall record.
January 18
Travis Clark - Post - Lake Forest
So. - Evanston, Ill.
Clark helped lead Lake Forest to a pair of MWC road wins over the weekend. He led all players in Friday’s 77-56 victory at Beloit with 19 points and his eight rebounds and four assists also tied for game-high honors. On Saturday the Foresters prevailed 60-57 in overtime at Lawrence and Clark scored a game-high 23 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, and blocked a pair of shots. His free throws with two seconds remaining helped clinch the victory. He averaged 21 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3 assists, a blocked shot, and a steal per game. He shot 57 percent from the field and committed just one turnover on the weekend.
January 25
Matt Skelly - Forward - Grinnell College
So. - Phoenix, Ariz.
Skelly played a big role in Grinnell’s weekend wins over Lawrence University and Carroll University. He tallied 20 points in a 90-89 victory over Lawrence and was a sizzling 9-of-16 from 3-point range and finished with 30 points in the Pioneers’ buzzer-beater win over Carroll. The win over Carroll was the Pioneers’ first in the last five tries, with the previous victory coming on Dec. 1, 2007.
February 1
Scott Gillespie - Guard - Ripon College
Jr. - Ripon, Wis.
Gillespie led Ripon to a pair of wins in the Red Hawk’s only two games last week, including a huge conference victory over Lawrence. Against the Vikings, Gillespie recorded the sixth double-double of his career, recording 29 points and 10 assists, to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 steals. The following day, in a 30-point victory over Rockford College, Gillespie recorded 26 points and 7 assists. For the week, Gillespie averaged 27.7 points, 8.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game, while also shooting 61 percent (22-36) from the field and 79 percent (11-14) from the free throw line. His 55 points last week also move him into Ripon’s top 10 career scoring leaders with 1,230 career points.
February 8
Aris Wurtz - Forward - Ripon College
So. - Waupun, Wis.
Wurtz led Ripon to wins in all three of their games last week, extending the Red Hawk’s win streak to five games. Against Beloit, Wurtz scored 27 points and pulled down eight rebounds. He followed that up with a career-high 37 points in a victory over Grinnell, which is the 10th highest single game point total in school history, while also recording 11 rebounds. He closed the week with a 29-point, six-rebound effort in a win over Monmouth. In those three games, Wurtz averaged 31 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while converting on 81 percent (34-42) of his shots from the field, including 75 percent (6-8) from 3-point range. He also made 90 percent (19-21) of his free throws.
February 15
Chris Peterson - Center - St. Norbert
Jr. - Marinette, WI
Peterson led St. Norbert to its third Midwest Conference title and first in eight years with two wins last week. Peterson scored a team-high 21 points in Wednesday's 77-72 win over Ripon that clinched the MWC title, going 7-for-14 from the floor, 3-for-8 from three-point range and 4-for-6 at the line with six rebounds in 31 minutes. Despite playing just 20 minutes in Saturday's 68-50 rout of Lawrence, Peterson had a game-high 15 points, connecting on 4 of 7 shots from the floor and was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers. Peterson is averaging 13.5 points per game while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor this season.
February 22
John Hoch - Guard - Carroll University
Sr. - Colgate, Wis.
Carroll University’s John Hoch (Colgate, Wis./Hartland Arrowhead) notched a pair of 27 point games to propel the Pioneers men’s basketball team into the Midwest Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed. In an 87-80 win at Ripon College on Wednesday night, Hoch scored 27 points and dished out eight assists. He then scored 27 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists as Carroll shocked No. 14 St. Norbert College, 77-68. In the game against the Green Knights, Hoch became the Pioneers second all-time leading scorer with 1,566 career points.