Ben Strong Named Guilford College Student-Athlete of the Week

Greensboro, N.C.(1/23/07) -- Junior Ben Strong of the men's basketball team earned Guilford College's Student-Athlete of the Week Award Tuesday. The weekly prize is presented by Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Strong has received the honor five times this season.

Strong, a 6-11, 220-pound center, averaged 25.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game in Guilford's 2-1 week. He registered his fourth 30-point game of the year with 30 points and nine boards, both game highs, in a comeback win over visiting Bridgewater Jan. 20. He posted his ninth double-double of the season with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and a career-high seven blocks in the Quaker's road loss to Roanoke Jan. 17. He also connected on all 11 free-throw attempts. In the 79-69 home win over Eastern Mennonite Jan. 21, Strong scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half and added a game-high eight rebounds.

Strong leads the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) in points (24.5 ppg.), rebounds (11.1 rpg.) and blocks (2.87 bpg.) and his 78 percent shooting from the charity stripe ranks sixth. He also ranked among the top-11 NCAA Division III leaders in those categories through games of Jan. 14, including fourth in the nation in rebounding. He has led Guilford's scorers nine times and topped the team's rebounders in 12 of 15 games. Strong makes a team-best 55.5 percent of his shots from the floor, the ODAC's ninth-highest percentage. He starts the week with 1,124 points in 69 career games and needs 43 rebounds for 500 in his career.

Strong helped coach Tom Palombo's team improve to 13-2 for the first time since 1974-1975 with two ODAC wins last week. The Quakers are ranked 25th in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, their second consecutive appearance. They begin the week ranked second in the ODAC at 7-2 and host Randolph-Macon Saturday (1/27) at 3:00 p.m. in the Ragan-Brown Field House.

Guilford's 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. Recent Guilford SAAC activities include a canned-food drive to benefit local charities and dodgeball competitions among representatives from Guilford's administration and athletic teams.