SHU’s Thomas, Spokas collect NEC honors
The Sacred Heart University men’s basketball team picked up a pair of Northeast Conference honors as Tyler Thomas was named the Player of the Week and Matas Spokas was the Rookie of the Week following a split of two games at Merrimack.
Thomas, a sophomore guard who played at Amity High School, scored 58 points in the two contests including a career-best 36 in a 9790 overtime loss to Merrimack on Jan. 7. He followed that with a 22-point effort in a 68-62 win the following day. He also had 14 rebounds and eight assists in the two games.
Thomas is second in the NEC with 19.8 points per game, and ranks 14th in the country and second in the NEC with 3.33 three-pointers per game. This is his first Player of the Week award, after he was named the Rookie of the Week twice last winter.
Spokas, a freshman from Kaunas, Lithuania, averaged 13.5 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 59 percent from the field against Merrimack. He tied his career high in scoring with 18 points in the OT loss. Spokas is averaging 15 points and five rebounds per game this season.
SHU is 3-4 and will host Central Connecticut in its next game Thursday at 7 p.m.
TWICE AS NICE
Quinnipiac junior guard Mackenzie DeWees was named MAAC women’s basketball Player of the Week on Monday. She averaged 17 points and seven rebounds in three Bobcats wins, scoring a career-high 20 points to open the week in a victory over Marist.
DeWees earned the same honor from College Sports Madness.
DOUBLED UP
Quinnipiac captain Odeen Tufto is the ECAC men’s hockey Player of the Week, and freshman forward Ty Smilanic is the
Rookie of the Week, the conference announced Monday.
Tufto had five assists, extending his scoring streak to 10 games, and won 32 faceoffs in the Bobcats’ three-game weekend homestand against Clarkson, earning the award for the fifth time in his four years at Quinnipiac. He leads the NCAA with 20 assists and 24 points.
Smilanic had two goals and three assists in the series, in which the teams split overtime games before the Bobcats finished with a 1-0 win.
The Bobcats (8-4-1) have moved up to 11th in both the U.S. College Hockey Online and USA Today/USA Hockey polls. They were 13th and 12th in those polls last week.
ROOKIE STAR
Sacred Heart forward/ center Kelsey Wood earned the Northeast Conference’s women’s basketball Rookie of the Week award on Monday. Wood had eight points and 10 rebounds in a loss to Wagner, then helped the Pioneers rebound to win the next day with nine points and eight rebounds. Wood’s 6.8 rebounds a game are eighth in the conference.