Mountain Hawks sweep Patriot League weekly awards
12/13/2010 8:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh men's basketball sophomore C.J. McCollum earned his third straight Patriot League Player of the Week while teammate Mackey McKnight collected his first-career Rookie of the Week honor, as announced by the league on Monday. McCollum becomes the first player since 2008 and only the seventh in league history to win three straight Patriot League Player of the Week laurels. McCollum's weekly award is the 12th of his career (nine rookie, three player) in just 21 awardings. Those 12 awards are tied for second in Patriot League history with Colgate's Adonal Foyle (1994-97) and Lafayette's Brian Ehlers (2002-06). Just 10 games into his sophomore season, McCollum is only four from tying Bucknell's Kevin Bettencourt (2002-06) for the most weekly awards in league history.
McCollum continued his stellar stretch last week, averaging 25 points per game, highlighted by a 35-point effort in Friday's 91-78 win at Marist. It already marked his third game with 30+ points this season (and sixth of his career. He has now scored 162 points over his last six games (27 per game) to improve his scoring average to a Patriot League leading 22.8 points per game, which stands as 12th best in the nation. He is also second in the league with 7.7 rebounds per contest.
Highlighting his week was a 35-point effort at Marist, when he finished 10-of-20 from the field, 6-of-11 from three-point range and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, while grabbing nine rebounds, three assists and a career-high six steals. McCollum also posted 15 points and six rebounds in an 84-78 loss at defending NEC Regular Season Champion Quinnipiac on Tuesday.
McKnight earns his first weekly honor after a stellar stretch, which included 28 points and 13 assists over two games last week. He began the week with a career effort at Quinnipiac, posting career-highs in points (24), assists (7) and steals (3). He then added four points and six assists without a turnover at Marist on Friday.
Currently 29th in the nation with a stellar 2.75 assist/turnover ratio, McKnight leads the Mountain Hawks and is second in the Patriot League with 4.4 assists per game. He has come on of late, dishing 32 assists over the last six games (including four games of six or more), for an average of 5.3 per contest. That coincides with Lehigh's offensive outburst when it's netted 478 points over the last six games (79.7 average). McKnight also stands fourth on the squad with 8.2 points per game.
Following Monday's home showdown against Saint Francis, Lehigh returns to action at Southern California on Dec. 23 before returning to Stabler Arena after the holidays for a matchup against Saint Peter's on Dec. 29. Tickets for all home games are now on sale and may be purchased on Lehighsports.com or by calling the ticket office at (610) 7LU-GAME.
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