Powell (Seton Hall), Leifer (Yeshiva), Jacobs (Pace) Pull in Weekly Awards

2/11/2020 6:29:10 AM

MBWA Players of the Week (2-3 to 2-9) 2019-20 / Week 8

FFI: Chuck Stogel, MBWA - 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com

Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
www.MetBasketballWriters.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    
NEW YORK (Feb. 11, 2020) ---  Myles Powell of Seton Hall in Division I, and Brandon Jacobs of Pace and Gabriel Leifer of Yeshiva as co-winners in Divisions II-III, have been named Men’s Players of the Week by the Met Basketball Writers Assn.
 
The designations, for games played Feb. 3-9, are unique in that they encompass players from 71 Met area schools across Divisions I, II and III.
 
This is the third time this season that Powell has been named MBWA Player of the Week and the fifth occasion the designation has gone to a player from Seton Hall. This is the third consecutive week that Leifer has been honored.
 
A 6-2 senior guard from Trenton, NJ, Powell --- who also was named the Big East Conference player of the week --- averaged 26.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in leading the 10th ranked Pirates (18-5) to a pair of road victories last week. He shot 47.5% from the floor (19-of-40) and 100% at the free throw line (8-of-8).
 
Powell scored 21 of his game-high 34 points in the first half as Seton Hall went on to win 78-71 at Georgetown, shooting 12-of-24 from the field and posting his third 30+ effort this season.
 
Then, three days later, Powell helped the Pirates win 70-64 at Villanova for the first time since 1994 by scoring 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. His second 3-pointer of the afternoon pushed him past Jeremy Hazell for the most career treys in Seton Hall history. He now has 330 career 3-point goals.
 
Currently ninth in the country and second in the Big East in scoring, Powell is averaging 21.9 points per game.
 
A 6-0 junior guard from Cambria Heights, NY, Jacobs began with a double-double, tallying 11 points and 12 rebounds as the Setters (16-8) registered their first of two victories last week in defeating New Haven on the road 53-48.
 
The leader in the Northeast 10 Conference and fifth in the nation with 8.0 assists per game, Jacobs moved up in the Pace record books by dishing out a single-game record 19 assists in an 82-71 homecourt triumph over Saint Rose. At the same time, in notching two points and three rebounds, he broke his own single-season assists mark and now has 192 this campaign.
 
A 6-5 senior forward from Lawrence, NY, Leifer --- who is third in the nation in rebounding at 14.3 per game and 11th in the nation in assists with 6.3 per game --- led nationally ranked No. 21 Yeshiva (20-1) to two victories on the road and one win at home with double-doubles in all three games last week.
 
Leifer began his week with 12 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and seven assists in a 77-68 win at Williams. He followed with 11 points, a game-high 16 rebounds, along with four blocks and four steals, in YU’s Skyline Conference 82-65 victory at Mount Saint Mary. He concluded the week with 15 points, a game-best 17 rebounds, along with nine assists and three blocks, in a 95-80 win at home over Mount Saint Vincent.
 
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Division I Honorable Mention for the week: Desure Buie, Hofstra; E.J. Crawford, Iona; Ty Flower, LIU; Pauly Paulicap, Manhattan.
 
Players receiving MBWA Men’s Divisions II-III Honorable Mention for the week: Riley Collins, Drew; Michael Darby, St. Joseph’s-Long Island; Isaiah Geathers, Lehman; Bryan Griffin, Mercy; Pedro Marquez, Old Westbury; Jorge Perdomo, Purchase; Sam Toney, NJCU.
 
Previous MBWA 2019-20 Men’s Players of the Week: Dec. 10, Elijah Olaniyi, Stony Brook, Div. I; Peyton Wejnert, Pace, Divs. II-III . . . Dec. 17, Ron Harper Jr., Rutgers, Div. I; Elijah Lott, Purchase, Divs. II-III . . . Dec. 24, Quincy McKnight, Seton Hall, Div. I; Chris LaBelle, Centenary, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 14, Myles Powell, Seton Hall, Div. I; Chris LaBelle, Centenary, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 21, Myles Powell, Seton Hall, Div. I; Peyton Wejnert, Pace, and Elijah Lott, Purchase, Divs. II-III . . . Jan. 28, Tommy Funk, Army West Point, and Romaro Gill, Seton Hall, Div. I; Gabriel Leifer, Yeshiva, Divs. II-III . . . Feb. 4, Desure Buie, Hofstra (Div. I); Gabriel Leifer, Yeshiva (Divs. II-III).