MAC Announces Final Men's Basketball Players of the Week

Watt averaged 21 points and 4.5 rebounds to help lead the Bulls to a pair of wins on the week. Against Akron, he scored a game-high 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting. He added six rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Against Bowling Green, he finished with a team-high 20 points. After shrugging of a sluggish start, Watt scored 11 of the Bulls' final 22 points, shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the field down the stretch. His free throw with 2:05 remaining made him the 17th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Sophomore guard Jesse Berry led the Cardinals to two victories to close out the regular season as he averages 17.0 point per game off the bench ... Berry connected on 66.7 percent (8-12) from three-point land on the week while only playing  24.5 minutes per game ... He scored a team-high 15 points against Central Michigan, including seven in the game-deciding run in the second half ... He followed that up with 19 points against NIU, including 16 in the second half as they Cardinals rallied for the win ... He tied his career-high with five three pointers against the Huskies, including four straight at one point in the second half.

Abreu helped the Zips wrap up their first MAC Regular Season title and the No. 1 overall seed in the FirstEnergy MAC Tournament with a 1-1 performance last week.  Abreu closed out the week averaging 14.0 points, 5.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while posting an impressive 5.5 assist-to-turnover ration (11 assists, two turnovers).  Against Buffalo, Abreu led Akron with a career-high 18 points while dishing out six assists and grabbing four rebounds He connected on 3-of-6 from 3-point range and 7-of-8 from the line.  In Akron’s win at Kent State, Abreu has 10 points, five assists, two steals and two rebounds.  Abreu’s fastbreak layup off the steal with 16:05 left in the game gave Akron a 28-27 lead, an advantage the Zips would not relinquish.  With his five assists against KSU, he broke Dru Joyce's (126, 2004-05) sophomore assists record (128) and is just five assists away from moving into the top-10 in career assists in school history. 

Calhoun averaged 19.0 points and 4.5 rebounds on 47 percent shooting as Bowling Green split its final two games of the regular season. Calhoun had 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting in a midweek win over Miami and followed that up with a game-high 23 points and five rebounds at Buffalo Saturday.

Trey Zeigler, Central Michigan
So., G, Mount Pleasant, Mich. (Mount Pleasant)
Zeigler averaged 18.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists on the week.  He scored a game-high 22 points in CMU’s win over rival Western Michigan.

Abdel Nader, Northern Illinois

Nader averaged 14 points and 4.5 rebounds in a victory over Toledo and a loss at Ball State. Nader shot 45.5 percent from the field, including 50 percent from behind the three-point arc, while making all four of his free throw attempts for the week. Nader opened the week with 12 points in a 65-61 win over Toledo. Nader then posted 16 points, six rebounds and three assists in the regular season finale at Ball State. With his 16 points, Nader posted his 17th double-figure scoring game of the season.

Sophomore G Rian Pearson averaged a team-high 17.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 1.5 spg and posted a 75.0 FT% (9-of-12) in the Rockets’ two games vs. Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan. Pearson tallied his eighth double-double of the season (which is tied for second in the MAC) with 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Rockets to a dominating 76-51 victory over the West Division champion Eagles on Saturday. Earlier in the week, the Raytown, MO native tallied eight points and a team-best five boards in a four-point road setback at NIU. Pearson has led the Rockets in rebounding a team-high 25 games, including 14 straight contests. Pearson is the only player in the MAC to appear in the Top 10 of the conference rankings in scoring (2nd/16.4 ppg), rebounds (3rd/8.2 rpg) and steals (8th/1.5 spg).

Whitfield was the leading scorer for the Broncos in last week's games against Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, averaging 14.5 points per game in in the losses. Whitfield is averaging 14.8 points per game in his last four contests, and has scored at least 15 points in three of those four games.