NAC Men's Basketball Weekly Honors

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Luis Medina, Husson
(So, G - Hartford, Conn.)

Luis Medina was a huge factor in Husson's clean sweep at home this weekend. The sophomore guard tallied a game-high 14 in limited minutes during his team's 104-47 victory over Green Mountain on Friday, but his best performance of the season thus far came against first-place Castleton on Saturday. Medina scored an impressive 26 points to go along with seven assists, six boards and five steals as Husson topped the visiting Spartans 96-78. Medina shot 64% from the floor and boasted a 3.8 assist to turnover ratio on the weekend.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Mike Dias, Colby-Sawyer
(Fr, F - Carver, Mass.)

Mike led the Chargers in scoring (19 ppg), rebounding (10.3 rpg), and FG% (60.5%) in a 2-1 week. Mike began the week with 13 points and eight rebounds in an 85-62 road win at NEC. He followed with a game best 21 points on 10-14 shooting and nine rebounds in a 73-65 road loss to Maine-Farmington. Mike wrapped up the week with career-highs in points with 23 and rebounds with 14 in an 87-75 win at Thomas.

AROUND THE NAC

Castleton went 1-1 on the week, downing Maine Maritime on the road before seeing its six-game winning streak come to an end at Husson. The Spartans struggled to find their offensive rhythm in the first half at Husson and never recovered. Castleton is now tied for first place in the conference standings and will take on Green Mountain at home on Saturday.

Colby-Sawyer went 2-1 over three road games last week with wins over NEC and Thomas, but lost to Maine-Farmington. Freshman Mike Dias led the team with 19 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. The Chargers host Husson and Maine Maritime this weekend.

UMF notched a pair of conference wins over the weekend over Colby-Sawyer and New England College. The Beavers' Ben Johnson averaged 18.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, while Pet Sumner (14.5 ppg) and Kevin Leary (10.0 ppg) helped the Beavers make 24 threes in the two games.

Green Mountain split a pair of NAC games this week. Friday's action saw the Eagles lose to Husson 104-47, while on Saturday the Eagles turned their fortunes around by winning at Maine Maritime 69-53. Forward Carnelius Green led the Eagles by averaging 13.5 points and eight rebounds per game while forward Jeremiah Aponte chipped in with an average of nine ppg and eight rpg.

Husson University's men's basketball team went 2-0 this week at Newman Gymnasium, improving their current winning streak to five in-a-row. Husson posted triple-digits for the first time this year, besting Green Mountain by a score of 104-47 and in the marquee game against NAC-leading Castleton, the Eagles cooled the visiting Spartan offense to earn the 96-78 win. Husson was led by Luis Medina (20 ppg) and Marc Zaharchuk (13 points, 11 rebounds per game), and will take to the court again this weekend at Colby-Sawyer (Friday 7:30pm) and New England College (Saturday 3:00pm).

Johnson State experienced a tough 0-2 week last week that included a road conference loss at Lyndon on Tuesday 71-63. The Badgers led by seven points with just over four minutes to go but did not score again. JSC also suffered a non-conference loss at Plymouth on Thursday to slide to 4-16 overall, 4-9 NAC.

Lyndon guard Ben Sackett tossed in 23 points, all in the second half, to lead the Hornets to a 71-63 come-from-behind victory over Johnson State on Tuesday, Jan. 31. It was the Hornets lone contest of the week. The win improves Lyndon to 4-15 overall and 4-9 in the North Atlantic Conference.

With an injury-depleted roster, Maine Maritime dropped a pair of games on the weekend, falling 77-58 to Castleton and 69-53 to Green Mountain. The Mariners travel to New England College and Colby-Sawyer this weekend.

New England College men's basketball finished 0-3 this past week in conference play losing games to Colby-Sawyer College 62-85, Thomas College 64-94 and University of Maine at Farmington 65-73. Contributing for the Pilgrims in their loss against Colby-Sawyer was Ryan Schmitz with 19 points and Steven Cronin with 13 points. Standing out in the Loss against Thomas College was Abdirahman Moore who finished with 13 points and Marino Moore with 12 points on the night. Contributing to the Pilgrims Loss against University of Maine at Farmington was Jonathan Byrnes who finished the game with 16 points.

Thomas went 1-1 this week handing a 94-64 loss to NEC on Friday before dropping a 87-75 loss to Colby-Sawyer.