MAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week
Mark Sears, Ohio, Guard
Sophomore, Muscle Shoals, Ala (Hargrave Military Academy)
Once again, sophomore guard Mark Sears led Ohio on the court, helping the Bobcats go 2-0 on the week and improve to 16-3 overall and 7-1 in MAC play. Overall, Sears averaged 26.5 points a game, while shooting .533 (16-of-30) from the field, 3-of-9 (.333) from three and 18-of-20 (.900) from the line. He added 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, while recording 2.0 steals a game while averaging 40.0 minutes on the floor.
On Jan. 21 against Northern Illinois, Sears led the Bobcats with 26 points and six rebounds. He went 7-of-12 from the field, 1-of-3 from three and 11-of-12 from the line in the Bobcats 74-62 victory. He also dished out four assists and one block while playing all 40 minutes.
Sears was back o Jan. 28 at Buffalo, where he took over the game, scoring 27 points while going 9-of-18 from the field, 2-of-6 from three and 7-of-8 from the line. He added six rebounds and four assists, while once again playing all 40 minutes in the commanding 74-53 victory.
Ryan Rollins, Toledo, Guard
Sophomore, Macomb, Mich. (Dakota)
Sophomore guard Ryan Rollins averaged 23.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.0 apg and 3.5 spg to help Toledo maintain its first-place standing at the top of the Mid-American Conference with home victories over Buffalo and Akron. Rollins also shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field and 81.0 percent (17-of-21) at the free-throw line to help the Rockets extend their winning streak to eight games.
Rollins registered a double-double in his first game of the week in an 86-75 win over Buffalo. He tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals and registered career highs in free throws made (13) and free throws attempted (16) against the Bulls.
The Macomb, Mich. native then scored 17 of his 21 points in the final 11 minutes to help Toledo hold off Akron’s rally in an 84-76 victory over the Zips. Akron cut the Rockets’ lead to 72-68 with just over five minutes remaining, but Rollins responded by scoring seven of Toledo’s next points to give an 80-71 cushion with 1:42 left.
Rollins ranks 20th nationally with a MAC-best 20.0 ppg and also is tied for first in the league with 2.0 spg.
Other Nominees
Miryne Thomas, Ball State, Forward
Redshirt Junior, Cleveland, Ohio (Central Catholic)
Miryne Thomas led the Cardinals with 19.0 points per game and was second on the team with 5.0 rebounds per game for the week. He tied for a game-high 26 points, collected a game-high eight rebounds, notched four assists, and blocked a game-high two shots in the Ball State win over Miami. At NIU, he finished second on the team with 13 points along with three rebounds and two assists. In Saturday's game against WMU, he recorded a team-high 18 points along with four rebounds and an assist. In the game against Miami, Thomas shot a remarkable .800 percent from 3-point range and added a shooting percentage of .750 from the field. For the week he shot .688 from the free-throw line, .594 from the field and .571 from long distance.
Daeqwon Plowden, Bowling Green, Forward
Senior, Philadelphia, Pa. (Mastery Charter North)
Bowling Green senior Daeqwon Plowden continued his consistent play for the Falcons against Eastern Michigan and Kent State. Plowden began the week by reaching double-digits in the scoring column against Eastern Michigan 12 points. He added five rebounds and assist to his stat line against the Eagles. As for the game against Kent State, Plowden scored 27 to tie his career-high for points in the a single game. Of those 27, Plowden scored 21 of them in the first half alone. He was able to add six rebounds and an assist to his stat line. On the week, Plowden also continued a strong season at the free throw line, being 9-of-10 over the team games, including 7-of-7 against the Golden Flashes.
Ralph Bissainthe, Central Michigan, Forward
Senior, North Miami, Fla.
Bissainthe led CMU to a road victory at NIU with 17 points and nine rebounds, shooting 60.0 percent from the field and was 2-for-2 from three-point land. He also had a season-high three assists in the victory. Bissainthe also had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds earlier in the week against Akron.
Nate Scott, Eastern Michigan, G/F
Senior Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley (Northern Illinois)
Senior forward Nate Scott averaged 16.5 points and 8.0 rebounds for Eastern Michigan this week, including dropping a career-high 25 at home versus Miami for the win, Jan. 29. The Eagles set a facility record in the first half against the RedHawks, hitting 12 threes, five of which came from Scott. The senior ended the evening scoring at a .500 clip from deep, making 6-of-12, while bringing in 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. In total, Scott recorded 33 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals over the two games, as EMU split the week.
Sincere Carry, Kent State, Guard
Redshirt Junior, Solon, Ohio
Sincere Carry led the charge for the Flashes' enormous second half against Bowling Green with 23 points to give the Flashes a come-from-behind win. Carry and the Flashes posted 58 second-half points and a Division-I opponent high 91 total points in the win over BGSU. He finished with a game-high 30 points on 11-for-19 shooting, including 4-for-8 from three-point range. It was Carry's second 30-point game of the season, both coming in MAC games. Carry facilitated the offense efficiently against Western Michigan earlier in the week, scoring 14 points and adding four assists. The redshirt junior point guard shot an impressive 48 percent from the field and was 7-for-15 from downtown during the week while helping the Flashes to two big conference wins.
Lamar Norman Jr., Western Michigan, Guard
Junior, Grand Rapids, Mich. (Godwin Heights)
Lamar Norman Jr. shot 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from the field last week and nailed all seven of his free throw tries as he netted 22 points in each of WMU's two games last week. The junior also buried five triples, including a 4-for-7 (.571) showing at Ball State on Saturday. In that road contest against the Cardinals, Norman notched the final five points of the first half to ignite a 15-0 run which helped the Broncos erase what had been an early 15-point deficit. He ended up scoring seven of the 15 points during that Western Michigan surge.
