INDIANAPOLIS – With teams wrapping up finals and heading into the holiday break, Cedarville was pronounced as the recipient for Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week honors.
 
The league standings are a bit crowded through the first half of the Great Midwest schedule. Defending tournament champion Malone is the lone unbeaten at 4-0 while No. 13 nationally ranked Hillsdale is 4-1. Both Walsh and Cedarville are at 3-1 while Ashland is in the middle of the mix at 2-1.
 
Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week
Branden Maughmer
Cedarville
Guard
Senior
Chillicothe, OH (Chillicothe HS)
 
Missing a few players already with injuries, including Nov. 23 athlete of the week Quinton Green, Maughmer earned his second weekly honor of the season after the Yellow Jackets defeated a pair of Sunshine State Conference opponents in Florida.
 
Maughmer and Cedarville defeated Florida Southern and Saint Leo as the senior guard returned from a broken hand sustained against Ashland on Dec. 4.
 
Maughmer was questionable to make the trip to Florida for the Florida Southern Classic in Lakeland and healed ahead of schedule to only miss two games from his injury.
 
In his first game back, Maughmer drilled a game-tying three pointer that sent the game into overtime against Saint Leo. The Yellow Jackets prevailed as he scored 21 points, handed out seven assists and collected six rebounds. It was his fourth straight game with 20+ points in his season line.
 
In Cedarville’s final game of the holiday road trip, Maughmer scored in double figures for the ninth time in a row this year. This time vs. FSC, he netted 16 points to go with six rebounds and four assists.
 
He made a pair of three pointers in each game and is still averaging over 20 points for the season (20.1 ppg). Maughmer picked up four more steals and was 11-for-12 on free throws.