Guilford's Ben Strong Named Student-Athlete of the Week
Greensboro, N.C. (1/7/08) -- Men's basketball senior Ben Strong won Guilford College's Student-Athlete of the Week Award for the period of Dec. 15-Jan. 6 Monday. The weekly prize is awarded by Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Strong, a 6-11, 220-pound center, averaged 21.0 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game over the Quakers' last three outings. He totalled 22 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, all game highs, in the Quakers’ 64-62 setback at Shenandoah University Dec. 15. Strong scored 13 points, grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and added two blocks in Guilford’s 82-63 win over Averett University Jan. 2. Three days later, he lifted the visiting Quakers past Emory University, 83-67, with 28 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks, all game highs. The contest marked his team-leading seventh double-double of the season and the 30th of his career. His five blocks represented a season high.
Strong, one of 120 small-college men's basketball players named to the Collegiate Basketball Invitational Initial Watch List last week, leads the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) in scoring (24.8 ppg.), rebounding (11.8 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.9 bpg.). He has paced Guilford's scorers in seven of eight games and has been the team's top rebounder six times. The reigning NCAA Division III Player of the Year has seven 20-point games this season and starts the week ranked eighth among Guilford’s career scoring (1,692) and rebounding (699) leaders.
Coach Tom Palombo's Quakers (6-2, 1-0 ODAC) have won five of their last six games, including two straight. Guilford is ranked 12th in the Dec. 31 D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and hosts three ODAC games this week in the Ragan-Brown Field House. Hampden-Sydney College visits Wednesday (1/9) at 7:00 p.m. The Quakers meet Randolph-Macon College Saturday (1/12) at 3:00 p.m. and play Virginia Wesleyan College Sunday (1/13) at 3:00 p.m. Admission to all three games is free.
The Student-Athlete of the Week Award is presented by Guilford's SAAC, which 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 the school's student-athletes and non-student-athletes. Recent Guilford SAAC activities include canned-food drives, volunteer assistance with the North Carolina Special Olympics and tutoring at New Garden Friends School.