MAC Men’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week
Sincere Carry, Kent State, Guard
Redshirt Junior, Solon, Ohio
Sincere Carry had another enormous week for the Golden Flashes, leading the team to back-to-back wins over the first place team in the conference. He started on Tuesday by going off for 23 points off the bench against Toledo as the Flashes defeated the Rockets on the road. Carry was 10-for-18 from the field, including 3-for-6 from long range. He scored 16 of those points in the opening half to extend the Flashes' lead. Kent State led by double figures for the entire second half. Carry continued his masterful week with a perfectly orchestrated performance against Ohio in front of a packed crowd in Kent. Carry and the Flashes steamrolled the Bobcats and led by as many as 34 points. The Solon, Ohio native scored 12 points, grabbed five boards and dished out a game-high seven assists. He threw multiple alley oops and no-look passes as the high-flying Flashes extended their winning streak to eight in a row. Kent State currently has the 8th-longest winning streak in the country.
Josh Mballa, Buffalo, Forward
Senior, Bordeux, France (Putnum Science Academy)
Playing three games in five days, including two of those on the road, senior Josh Mballa led the Bulls to a 3-0 record by averaging a double-double with 19.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. He shot just over 55% from the floor and knocked down 19 of his 22 free throws. His dominating week began on Tuesday at Bowling Green where Mballa had 20 points and 11 boards, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. He added 19 points and 13 rebounds just two days later at Eastern Michigan and wrapped the week up with another 20 point game in Buffalo's win against Western Michigan on Saturday.
Other Nominees
Payton Sparks, Ball State, C
Freshman, Winchester, Ind. (Winchester)
Payton Sparks led the Cardinals with 15.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per contest. He was one of just three MAC players to record a double-double during the week. Sparks notched 16 points and brought down eight rebounds against NIU. Against Bowling Green, he recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Samari Curtis, Bowling Green, Guard
Junior, Xenia, Ohio (Xenia)
Samari Curtis paced the Falcons in both of their games this past week. Curtis began against Buffalo by posting a team-high 19 points in the contest while adding a team-high three assists on top of three rebounds to his stat line. As for the game against Ball State, Curtis once again led the Falcons in both points and assists, this time with 18 points and six assists. He also added two rebounds and two steals in the game.
Noah Farrakhan, Eastern Michigan, Guard
Freshman, Newark, N.J. (The Patrick School)
Freshman Noah Farrakhan had three impressive games for Eastern Michigan this week, averaging 19.6 points per game for the Eagles. Farrakhan is now fourth all-time in freshman scoring in Eastern Michigan history, behind James Thompson IV, Ray Lee, and Earl Boykins. Farrakhan shot a total of 24-of-49 (49%) and tallied 59 points. Eastern Michigan recorded its second win since January 11, defeating Central Michigan, 75-70, Feb. 15. Farrakhan's week started on Feb. 15, at Central Michigan where he scored 24 points on 9-of-17 (52.9%) from the field. In addition, he had four rebounds and four assists playing 27 minutes against the Chippewas. The freshman also went a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line and made four clutch free throws in the closing seconds to help EMU earn the win. In Eastern Michigan’s game versus Buffalo, Feb. 17, Farrakhan tallied 14 points on 6-of-15 (40%) shots from the field. The guard also recorded four rebounds and two assists in the contest. Additionally, he contributed on defense, tallying multiple steals (2) for the the eighth time this season. In his most recent game, Farrakhan scored 21 points, scoring 43.7% of Eastern Michigan’s points in its loss against Akron, Feb. 19. The freshman also went 9-of-17 (52.9%) from the floor against the Zips. It is the first time this season where the freshman had two games in the same week making more than 50% of his shots from the floor. The Newark, N.J. native saw 35 minutes of game action versus Akron, tied for his fifth-highest most minutes logged in a single game this season.
Dae Dae Grant, Miami, Guard
Junior, Lorain, Ohio (Lorain)
Dae Dae Grant average 20.5 ppg, shooting 50.0 percent from 3-poin range, 42.9 percent from the field and 100 percent from the free throw line to lead Miami in a pair of games last week. Grant collected his ninth 20-point scoring performance of the season with 22 points in a hard-fought game at Ohio. He tallied nine field goals, three coming from beyond the arc. He added three assists, three rebounds and one steal to his line. Grant led all scorers in a dramatic win at Northern Illinois with 19 points. He sunk two critical free throws with eight seconds to go to put Miami up one in the 78-75 win. He was 3-for-4 (.750) from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line against the Huskies. Grant added four assists, three blocked shots, one steal and one blocked shot in the win at NIU.
Keshawn Williams, NIU, Guard
Sophomore, Chicago Heights, Ill. (Bloom)
Keshawn Williams helped the Huskies to a pair of road wins at Ball State and Akron as he averaged a team-best 15.7 points for the week. On Tuesday (Feb. 15), Williams netted 19 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, along with five rebounds and two assists, as NIU won in Muncie, 64-58. Two days later at Akron (Feb. 17), Williams helped the Huskies to their first road win against the Zips since 2008 as he scored 15 points, with four rebounds and three assists, going 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, in a 66-63 victory. The Chicago Heights, Ill., native concluded the week with 13 points against Miami (Feb. 19).
Ben Vander Plas, Ohio, Forward
RS Senior, Ripon, Wis./ Ripon
Redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas helped lead the Bobcats last week. The Redshirt senior forwards efforts help Ohio go 1-1 on the week. Overall, Vander Plas averaged 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds a game. He added 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals a game. He also went 11-of-21 (.524) from the field, 3-of-9 from three and was 15-of-16 from the line. Vander Plas' best game of the week came on Feb. 15 against Miami. Vander Plas finished the game with a career-high 30 points, going 9-of-12 from the field, 3-of-6 from three and 9-of-10 from the line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out six assists and had three steals in Ohio's 91-78 victory. Vander Plas was back on the court on Feb. 18 at Kent State, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He went 6-of-6 from the line and recorded and assist and one steal.
RayJ Dennis, Toledo, Guard
Junior, Plainfield, Ill. (Oswego)
Junior guard RayJ Dennis averaged 15.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 3.5 apg and shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field in Toledo’s two games last week. Dennis opened the week by tallying a team-high 21 points as well as five rebounds and four assists vs. Kent State. He also knocked down 9-of-16 shots from the field. Dennis followed that effort with 10 points and a team-high eight boards in a home win over Central Michigan.
