INDIANAPOLIS – Playoff contenders are starting to emerge down the latter half of the regular season as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors continued on Monday.
The conference Point Rating System (PRS) remained fluid over the past week of competition. The top four programs at the end of the regular season will host quarterfinal conference tournament games which would be Hillsdale, Findlay, Kentucky Wesleyan and Walsh, if the season ended today.
It’s almost a virtual deadlock in spots 7 through 10 between Trevecca Nazarene, Tiffin, Ohio Valley and Ohio Dominican. No team can be counted out with Lake Erie also just a few wins away from jumping right back in the mix.
Nationally-ranked Hillsdale kept rolling and the Chargers are destined to be in the top 10 for the new NABC Poll this week. At 15-1, Hillsdale passed its most recent tests against Malone and Walsh on the road, earning six points each in the PRS to boost its total to 4.66.
Malone made moves with four games in the last week, winning three contests with the highlight coming against No. 13 Findlay on Saturday in Canton. Cedarville also defeated Findlay in an overtime verdict on Monday and the Yellow Jackets remain in the middle of the PRS pack for now.
The NCAA also announced some changes to regional realignment as the Great Midwest temporarily shifted to the Atlantic Region from the Midwest for championship bids. The NCAA Championship Atlantic Regional will be hosted by West Liberty University in West Virginia.
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week
Branden Maughmer
Cedarville
Guard
Junior
Chillicothe, OH (Chillicothe HS)
The Yellow Jackets carved out important victories at Findlay and back at home vs. Trevecca Nazarene to improve to 8-5 overall on the season.
Maughmer earned his second conference player of the week nod for the 2020-21 season with numbers closely resembling a triple-double average from 22.5 points, 9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.
Maughmer produced a season-high 27 points in Cedarville’s fourth overtime game of the year at No. 13 ranked Findlay on Monday. The junior guard was on the floor for 44 minutes as he shot 11-of-16 from the field and missed only one of his six free throw tries.
He filled out the stat sheet with nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. A member of the league’s all-defensive team a year ago, Maughmer is tied for the league lead in thefts (2.2 per game) with Findlay’s Tommy Schmock.
It was a tale of two halves between the Yellow Jackets and Oilers. Cedarville carried a 14-point lead at halftime and the Oilers matched that scoring margin in the second half. The Yellow Jackets won OT by outscoring UF, 12-6.
The Yellow Jackets defeated TNU on Thursday as Maughmer had a game-high 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He was perfect at the stripe on seven FT tries and was again one board shy of a double-double.
He chipped in six more assists and was credited with three steals in 38 minutes on the floor.
Maughmer is now fourth in the Great Midwest in scoring at 17.7 ppg. He is one of the top rebounding guards at 12th in the league and he is second in assists (5.0 apg) only behind Schmock.