Men's Basketball Release (2005-06) - Strong Named Guilford Student-Athlete of the Week - Guilford College

  • STRONG NAMED GUILFORD STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

 

      Greensboro, NC (1/24/06) -- Ben Strong won the first Guilford College Student-Athlete of the Week Award Tuesday. The award is presented by Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

 

Strong, a 6-10 sophomore center, won his second straight Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Men's Basketball Player of the Week Award after averaging 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in the Quakers' 2-0 week. He made 19-of-30 (63.3%) field goals, which helped him pick up the prize for a school-record third time this season. Strong poured in a career-high 30 points on 14-of-16 field-goal shooting in Guilford's 109-106 victory over league-foe Emory & Henry Jan. 18. He made his first 11 shots of the game and scored 20 points in the second half to help Guilford erase a 12-point deficit. Three days later in the Quakers' 71-55 ODAC win at Lynchburg, Strong totalled 14 points, a game-high nine boards and career-high five blocks.

 

      Strong's play has been a key reason for the Quakers' season-high five-game winning streak. He has averaged 21.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game during the streak. Strong ranks second in the league in scoring with a team-best 19.4 points per game. He leads the ODAC with 2.06 blocks per outing and is second with a .620 field-goal percentage. Also Guilford's top rebounder (5.5 rpg.), the sophomore has scored in double figures in all 17 games and has six 20-point scoring efforts.

 

      Coach Tom Palombo's Quakers (9-8, 7-3 ODAC) seek their sixth straight win Wednesday night against nationally ranked Hampden-Sydney. The game will be played in Guilford's Ragan-Brown Field House and for the third straight year, all gate receipts will be donated to the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. Tickets cost $4 for adults and $2 for youth and are available at the door.

 

      Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is comprised of representatives from each of the school's 16 varsity teams. The group meets regularly to discuss the state of Guilford Athletics and seeks to build community among student-athletes and non-student-athletes on the campus. Other recent Guilford SAAC activities include a canned-food drive to benefit local charities and dodgeball competitions among representatives from Guilford's teams.