CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A pair of young America East stars have earned this week's men's basketball weekly honors as University of Hartford's Mark Nwakamma and Boston University's Maurice Watson, Jr. picked up awards. The weekly accolades for the week ending Feb. 10 were announced Monday afternoon.
Nwakamma scored 20-plus points in both of Hartford's wins last week to take home Player of the Week recognition while Watson, Jr. averaged a double-double to claim Rookie of the Week honors.
A sophomore forward, Nwakamma (Leander, Texas) averaged 22.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and shot 68 percent from the floor in leading the Hawks to wins over Binghamton and Stony Brook last week to earn his third Player of the Week award of the season. Nwakamma started his week by scoring 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and adding seven boards in a 76-62 win over Binghamton Wednesday. He then had 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with six boards in a 60-55 win over Stony Brook Sunday. Nwakamma leads America East scoring 18.7 points per game in conference play and ranks third overall in scoring (15.3 ppg).
Watson, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa) averaged a double-double of 10 points and 10.5 assists to go with 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in a pair of Boston U. wins last week. The freshman guard, who's earned three Rookie of the Week awards this season, scored 14 points and added eight assists in a 79-72 win over Maine Tuesday. He then had six points and dished out a career-high 13 assists, the most in America East in nearly two years, in a 79-58 win at Binghamton Sunday. Watson, Jr. leads the conference dishing 5.3 assists per game and is 18th in scoring (10.5 ppg).
America East Notes... in 140 Characters or Less - #AEHOOPS
A pair of America East game will appear on ESPN3 and WatchESPN this week (2/12 - Boston U. at Vermont; 2/15 - Vermont at Stony Brook) ... Eight of America East’s nine teams have better RPIs than at this time last year ... Boston U., Hartford and Vermont had unbeaten weeks ... Vermont, winner of four straight, is in first place in the league standings at 8-2 ... UVM has won 13 straight games at home in conference play ... Stony Brook, which is in second place, has the league’s highest RPI (87) and is ranked 22nd in latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 ... The Seawolves’ 17-6 record is their best through 23 games in Division I ... Three teams (Binghamton, Hartford, UMBC) have surpassed last year’s win totals ... Hartford's 14 wins are its most since the 2007-08 season ... Boston U., which is tied for third place with Hartford, has won five of its last six games ... UMBC's six wins are their most since the 2008-09 season ... UNH’s Bill Herrion is one win shy of becoming the league’s all-time leader in America East wins ... Positioning is crucial as just twice in 33 seasons has a team placed lower than second in the league standings and gone on to win the title ... America East teams entered league play with 53 non-conference wins, an 18-win improvement from last season ... Vermont was awarded a Ramada Worldwide BracketBuster TV games on Feb. 4 and will host Canisius on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. on ESPN3 ... America East has had a TV game as part of the event six times in the last nine eight years ... Albany’s Jacob Iati and Vermont’s Luke Apfeld were named to CoSIDA’s Academic All-District I team Jan. 31 ... Albany's Mike Black and Stony Brook's Anthony Jackson are nominees for the Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard ... Mike Black hit a layup with 3.2 seconds left to lift Albany to a 63-62 win at reigning Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington on Nov. 13 ... The win was America East’s 10th over a BCS-conference program since 2008 ... The conference office announced on Nov. 29 that Albany's SEFCU Arena will host the 2014 America East Basketball Championship ... America East ranked third out of 31 conferences in the NCAA’s latest APR and GSR rankings in men’s basketball.
2012-13 America East Men’s Basketball Weekly Award Winners
Nov. 12 – Player of the Week: Ryan Cook (UMBC); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Nov. 19 – Player of the Week: Jacob Iati (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Nov. 26 – Player of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 3 – Player of the Week: Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Dec. 10 – Player of the Week: Mike Black (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Dec. 17 - Player of the Week: Dave Coley (Stony Brook); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 24 - Player of the Week: Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Dec. 31 - Co-Players of the Week: Jacob Iati (Albany)/Justin Edwards (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Jan. 7 - Co-Players of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford)/Alasdair Fraser (Maine); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 14 - Player of the Week: Sam Rowley (Albany); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 21 - Player of the Week: Clancy Rugg (Vermont); Rookie of the Week: Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)
Jan. 28 - Player of the Week: Tommy Brenton (Stony Brook); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)
Feb. 4 - Player of the Week: Brian Neller (UMBC); Rookie of the Week: Jordan Reed (Binghamton)
Feb. 11 - Player of the Week: Mark Nwakamma (Hartford); Rookie of the Week: Maurice Watson, Jr. (Boston U.)