NEW YORK (Feb. 17, 2015) ---
Sir'Dominic Pointer of St. John's, plus
Hakeem Harris of NYU and
Darian Hooker of NYIT, as co-winners, have been named Men’s Division I and Divisions II-III Players of the Week, respectively, by the Met Basketball Writers Assn. The designations, for games played Feb. 9-15, are unique in that they encompass players from 74 Met area schools across Divisions I, II and III. This was the second All-Met player of the week selection for Pointer. It was the second for Harris and third for Hooker, who also shared the award previously.
A 6-6 senior guard-forward from Detroit, Pointer led the Red Storm (17-8) to a 2-0 week with an average of 19.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.5 steals. Pointer shot 72.7% (16-of-22) from the field and 87.5% (7-of-8) at the free-throw line.
Pointer recorded his sixth double-double of the season in Wednesday’s 86-78 home victory over DePaul with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He also had five blocks.
Then, as St. John’s defeated host Xavier 78-70 for its third straight Big East victory, Pointer was near perfect all-around. He matched a career-high with 24 points, hitting 9-of-10 field goal attempts and went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line to help hand the Musketeers only their second loss in 14 home games this season. Pointer also had five rebounds, four steals and two blocks in the victory.
A 6-1 senior guard from Washington, D.C., Hooker --- who also was named East Coast Conference player of the week --- led the Bears (11-12) to a 2-0 week with wins over St. Thomas Aquinas (78-76) and Mercy (86-82, double overtime) by averaging 34.0 points per game. He also added six rebounds, nine assists and three steals over the two games.
Hooker had a game-high 37 points against STAC, shooting 54.5% from the field (12-of-22) with six
three-point field goals) and hitting 87.5% at the foul line. His final free throws with less than a second to play gave the Bears the victory over the first-place Spartans.
At Mercy, Hooker led the Bears to the double-overtime victory with 31 points.
Harris, a 6-1, junior guard from New York, led the Violets (16-6) to a 2-0 week by averaging 30 points and 4.5 rebounds on a combined 56.8% shooting (21-of-37) from the field, 55.6% (10-of-18) from behind the arc and 88.9% (8-of-9) at the foul line.
He scored a career-high 32 points in NYU’s 94-73 win over Case Western Reserve, shooting 13-of-18 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range and 3-of-4 at the line. He also added six rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.
Then in a 94-82 victory over Carnegie Mellon, Harris had 28 points on 8-of-19 accuracy from the field, including 7-of-11 from 3-point range and a perfect 5-of-5 at the line.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Division I Honorable Mention for the week:
Emmy Andujar, Manhattan; Schadrac Casimir, Iona; Khallid Hart, Marist.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Divisions II-III Honorable Mention for the week:
Kevin Herring II, Drew; Neville Joseph, NJCU; Sean McCarthy, St. Joseph’s-LI.
Previous MBWA 2014-15 Men’s Players of the Week: Dec. 9, D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s; Dec. 16, Granville Gittens, Baruch, D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s (co-winners); Dec. 23, Darien Davis, Dowling; Jan. 13, Isaiah Williams, Iona, Div. I . . . Lorenzo Williams, Brooklyn, Divs. II-III; Jan. 20, Marcus Burton, Wagner, Div. I . . . Granville Gittens, Baruch, Divs. II-III; Jan. 27, Sir’Dominic Pointer, St. John’s, Div. I . . . Hakeem Harris, NYU, and Darian Hooker, NYIT (co-winners), Divs. II-III; Feb. 3, Chavaughn Lewis, Marist, Div. I . . . Nick Smith, Dominican, Divs. II-III; Feb. 10, Jalen Cannon, St. Francis, Div. I . . . Darian Hooker, NYIT, Divs. II-III.