Washburn’s Blake Earns Big 12 Player of the Week

The MIAA released its weekly men’s basketball athlete of the week honor.
Washburn’s Javion Blake was named as this week’s recipient for the conference’s award. It is the first athlete of the week accolade for Blake this season.

Blake averaged 25.5 points with 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game as the Ichabods earned wins at Central Missouri and at Southwest Baptist. He scored at least 30 points for the fourth time this season with a 30-point, 6 rebound, 4 assists and 3 steal performance at Southwest Baptist on Saturday, February 9. Blake was 11-of-17 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3-point range in the win. He was the only double-figure scorer for Washburn and moved past Ewan Auguste into sixth on the all-time Ichabod scoring chart.

Against UCM, Blake scored 21 points in the win hitting 7-of-12 shots from the field and 5-of-8 from 3-point range adding seven rebounds and six assists.

For the week he was 18-of-29 from the field and 9-of-17 from 3-point range hitting 6-of-8 free throws with 13 rebounds, 10 assists and four steals while playing 73 of 80 minutes.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Julius Jackson – Emporia State
Jackson averaged 21.5 points per game for the Hornets in a pair of road games. He had 22 points with four three-pointers in Emporia State’s 89-77 win at Southwest Baptist. He came back with 21 points and three three-pointers at Central Missouri.

Brad Newman – Lindenwood
Newman averaged 21.0 points per game last week for the Lions. He opened the week with a 17-point performance on Feb. 7 against No. 1 Northwest Missouri, before scoring 25 points against Missouri Western on Feb. 9.

Joey Witthus – Northwest Missouri
Witthus averaged 24.0 points per game and secured his fifth 30-point scoring game of the season as the No. 1-ranked Bearcats picked up a pair of road victories. He scored a game-high 18 points and dished out a team-high four assists in a 72-41 win at Lindenwood. Witthus poured in 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a 75-57 win over then-second place Lincoln on Saturday.

Karim Mouliom – Southwest Baptist
Mouliom scored his fifth straight double-double against Emporia State and fell 1 rebound shy of another double-double against Washburn. He scored 44 points and shot 75 percent from the field in the two games, going 15-of-20. He was also perfect at the free-throw line, going 11-for-11. Along with his stellar shooting and 19 rebounds, Mouliom had 5 blocks.

Athlete of the Week Nominations: Jakob Lowrance – Central Missouri, Jordan London – Central Missouri, Julius Jackson – Emporia State, Brady Werth – Fort Hays State, Brad Newman – Lindenwood, Elyjah Clark – Missouri Southern, AJ Jackson – Nebraska Kearney, Joey Witthus – Northwest Missouri, Karim Mouliom – Southwest Baptist, Javion Blake – Washburn