St. John's Ponds, Old West's Powell Power to Weekly Accolades
MBWA Players of the Week (1-29 to 2-4) 2017-18 / Week 8
FFI: Chuck Stogel, MBWA - 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com
Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
www.MetBasketballWriters.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ponds, Powell Earn Met Weekly MBB Tributes
NEW YORK (Feb. 6, 2018) ---
Shamorie Ponds of St. John’s in Division I and
Preston Powell of Old Westbury in Divisions II-III have been named Men’s Players of the Week by the Met Basketball Writers Assn.
The designations, for games played Jan. 29-Feb. 4, are unique in that they encompass players from 74 Met area schools across Divisions I, II and III.
A 6-1 sophomore guard from Brooklyn, NY, Ponds --- who also was named Big East Conference player of the week --- averaged 32.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 steals and 4.0 assists as the Red Storm (11-13) split a pair of games last week against Top 10 teams, first taking No. 6 Xavier to the wire before bowing 73-68 at Carnesecca Arena and then upending No. 4 Duke 81-77 at Madison Square Garden.
Ponds shot 55.8% (24-of-43) from the field, 46.7% (7-of-15) from 3-point range and 81.8% (9-of-11) at the free throw line in the two games.
He posted 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting on Tuesday against Xavier to become the 10th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points scored in his first two seasons. Then on Saturday, Ponds led St. John’s to its first win over a Top 5 team since 2011 when he scored a game-high 33 points, including four 3-pointers, to topple Duke at the Garden.
A 6-0 senior guard from Farmingville, NY, Powell averaged 18.5 points on 60% shooting (21-of-35) from the field --- including 60% accuracy (9-o-f15) from beyond the arc --- in leading the Panthers (10-11) to an unblemished three victories last week, including two wins on the road.
Powell began the week by registering 14 points and five rebounds in a 57-48 victory at Sarah Lawrence. He followed by setting career-highs in points (24), field goals made (10) and field goal percentage (71.4%) to go along with three steals in the Panthers 85-70 win at St. Joseph's-Long Island. He closed the week with 17 points at home in a 78-66 triumph over Purchase, helping to secure the victory with 15 of his points in the second half.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Division I Honorable Mention for the week: Quinton Adlesh, Columbia; JoJo Cooper, Wagner; Roland Griffin, Iona; Joel Hernandez, LIU Brooklyn; Abdul Lewis, NJIT; Tyler Nelson, Fairfield; Eli Pemberton, Hofstra.
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Divisions II-III Honorable Mention for the week: Luis Hernandez, Lehman; Christopher Moseley, Ramapo; Justin Reyes, St. Thomas Aquinas; George Riefenstahl, Farmingdale State; Sean Smith, Manhattanville; Sam Toney, NJCU.
Previous MBWA 2016-17 Men’s Players of the Week: Dec. 5, Desi Rodriguez, Seton Hall, Div. I; Dequawne Richards, Mercy, and Sam Toney, NJCU, co-winners Divs. II-III . . . Dec. 12, Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra, Div. I; Dom Cristiano, NYU, and Terrell Spaulding, Felician, co-winners Divs. II-III . . . Dec. 19, Corey Sanders, Rutgers, Div. I; Lavrone Green, NJCU, and Jack Laffey, Adelphi, co-winners Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 9, Angel Delgado, Seton Hall, Div. I; Sam Toney, NJCU, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 16, Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra, Div. I; Sam Toney, NJCU, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 23, JoJo Cooper, Wagner, Div. I; Justin Reyes, St. Thomas Aquinas, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 30, Blake Francis, Wagner, Div. I; Justin Reyes, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Luis Hernandez, Lehman, co-winners Divs. II-III.