INDIANAPOLIS – With undefeated weeks, Malone and Cedarville received recognition for Great Midwest Athletic Conference Basketball Players of the Week honors announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The point ratings system rankings for both genders are growing increasingly close as the season continues.
Hillsdale and Findlay are now tied for first in the men’s race with 4.00 points. A close third is Cedarville with 3.89 points and Walsh is in fourth with 3.81.
If the season ended today, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican, Malone and Kentucky Wesleyan, would also qualify for the conference tournament.
Walsh has led the women’s race for the entirety of the conference schedule and the nationally-ranked Cavaliers are at the top with 4.50 points. Kentucky Wesleyan’s lone loss of the season came to Walsh and is the only reason the Panthers are looking up to the Cavaliers with 4.30 points. Malone and Cedarville are top four while the top eight is rounded out by Findlay, Ohio Dominican, Lake Erie and Alderson Broaddus.
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week
Jaret Majestic
Malone
Guard
Junior
Malvern, OH (Malvern HS)
Majestic took aim at the conference single-game record for three pointers made and pocketed 10 against Alderson Broaddus as the Pioneers enjoyed a 2-0 week.
The lefty sharpshooter tied the coveted record from distance as he now shares the top number in Great Midwest history along with Davis & Elkins’ Kevin Simpson (2018) and earlier this year, Walsh’s Darryl Straughter.
Majestic averaged 25.5 points per game as Malone toppled AB and Ohio Valley, tops among all players in the latest weekly sample size.
He also averaged four rebounds and three assists per contest. Majestic matched his career high point total with 31 and was 10-of-14 from deep.
He added a 20-point effort to help drop Ohio Valley on the road in a close one. The majority of his work was done at the charity stripe with 12 makes and he knocked down a pair of triples in Malone’s 10th win of the season.
Majestic is now tied for fourth in the Great Midwest in scoring this season at 17.2 points per game and is just under 40 percent from three-point territory in 2019-20.
Majestic is one of Division II’s best from beyond the arc, ranking 14th in the country in three pointers made per game (3.56).
Women’s Basketball Player of the Week
Ashlyn Huffman
Cedarville
Guard
Junior
Columbus, IN (Columbus North HS)
After catching the eye of ESPN’s commentary team during Cedarville’s matchup vs. Walsh in the Division II Showcase for her heady play, Huffman helped guide the Yellow Jackets to a pair of conference victories.
They were big wins in the league schedule as Cedarville kept pace as a top tier team in the point rating system. The Yellow Jackets defeated Tiffin at home and beat Ohio Dominican on the road.
Huffman was on her way to averaging at least half of a triple double with 13 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds per game while shooting over 63 percent on all shots.
Whether she is called upon to be a facilitator or asked to score, Huffman has thrived under head coach Kari Hoffman with numbers that have continued to increase across the board in her career.
Huffman had a double-double against Tiffin with 10 points and 10 assists, the second time she reached double figures in the passing statistic this season.
At ODU, she was 8-of-12 from the floor with 16 points, five assists and five rebounds. Huffman is top 20 in the conference in scoring this season and is the current league leader in assists (6.1 apg).