INDIANAPOLIS -- Oakland sophomore guard Kahlil Felder (Detroit, Mich./Pershing) has been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, while Valparaiso freshman guard Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec, Canada/Vanier College) has been named the Freshman of the Week, for the week of Dec. 29-Jan. 4.
Felder won his first Player of the Week honor this season after scoring a career-high 32 points to lead the Golden Grizzlies to an overtime win over Valparaiso on Friday night in both teams Horizon League opener. The sophomore guard scored 11 of his 32 points in overtime as Oakland outscored Valparaiso, 18-4, to win 89-75. Felder was 19-of-24 from the foul line in the contest, setting the Oakland and Horizon League record for free throw attempts and matching the League record for free throws made. Felder added a team-high five assists, six rebounds and two steals as Oakland won its conference home opener for the ninth consecutive season.
Oakland has two League games on its schedule this week as they play at Cleveland State on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3) and play at Detroit on Saturday (3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN3).
Walker averaged 14.0 points per game in three Valparaiso games last week to garner his first Freshman of the Week nod. The Montreal native opened the week with 12 points in the Crusaders’ 79-52 win at James Madison. On Friday night, Walker scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field as Valpo fell in overtime at Oakland. Valpo returned home on Sunday afternoon to beat Youngstown State with Walker contributing eight points.
For the week, the freshman guard shot 44.4% from three-point range and had six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Valparaiso (14-3, 1-1) has two home games on the schedule this week, they face UIC on Thursday night (8:05 p.m. ET on ESPN3) and host Cleveland State on Saturday (8:05 p.m. ET on ESPN3).
Top Performers for the Week:
Keith Carter, Valparaiso (Jr., G) - Carter scored in double figures in all three of Valpo’s games last week. He matched his season-high with 18 points at Oakland, including a three-pointer to send the game into overtime. He had his first career double-double in Sunday’s win over Youngstown State, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. For the week, he scored 46 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and passed out 11 assists.
Bobby Hain, Youngstown State (Jr., C) - Hain led the Penguins with 18 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 57.9 percent from the field. Hain posted his seventh double-double of the season with 22 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Northern Kentucky. He also had five assists against the Norse. Hain had 19 points and five rebounds against UIC and 13 points and five boards against Valparaiso.
Jay Harris, UIC (Sr., G) - Harris scored a game-high 25 points in UIC’s conference-opening win over Youngstown State on Friday. He connected on all 21 of his free throw attempts in three games last week and leads the League in free throw percentage, while ranking in the top-10 nationally.
Juwan Howard Jr., Detroit (Sr., F) - Howard Jr., scored a game-high 26 points, including 20 in the second half, in the Titans win over Milwaukee on Sunday. He also had six assists in the win.
Charlie Lee, Cleveland State (Sr., G) - Lee averaged 16.3 ppg., on 58.6 percent shooting. He shot 17-of-29 from the field, including 6-of-11 from three-point range and made all nine of his free throw attempts as the Vikings went 2-1 last week. He added 4.0 assists per game as he moved into ninth place on CSU’s all-time career assists list.
Keifer Sykes, Green Bay (Sr., G) - Sykes scored all of his 16 points in the second half in GB’s win over Chicago State last week.
Matt Tiby, Milwaukee (Jr., F) - Tiby just missed out on a double-double in both UWM games last week. He had 16 points and nine rebounds on Friday at Cleveland State and finished with 20 points and nine rebounds at Detroit on Sunday.
TJ Yoho, Wright State (Jr., F) - Yoho paced the Raiders with 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists in WSU’s 70-57 win over Detroit on Friday night. He shot 8-of-14 from the field in the contest and has now scored in double figures in 10 of 12 games.
Top Freshmen for the Week:
Paris Bass, Detroit (Fr., G/F) - Bass scored 14 points in the win over Milwaukee on Sunday and averaged 10.0 points per game in two League games last week.
Daeshon Francis, Green Bay (Fr., G) - Francis led the Phoenix bench with six points in GB’s win over Chicago State last week.
Jalen Hayes, Oakland (Fr., F) - Hayes scored 16 points on 50 percent field goal shooting (5-10) in Oakland’s overtime win over Valparaiso. He added eight rebounds, two assists and one steal in the win.
Justin Mitchell, Wright State (Fr., G) - Mitchell had nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and added two rebounds, two assists and a steal in WSU’s win over Detroit on Friday.
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week:
Nov. 10: Chrishawn Hopkins, Wright State
Nov. 17: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Nov. 24: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Dec. 1: Bobby Hain, Youngstown State
Dec. 8: Jay Harris, UIC
Dec. 15: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Dec. 22: Carrington Love, Green Bay
Dec. 29: Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week:
Nov. 10: Justin Jordan, Milwaukee
Nov. 17: Paris Bass, Detroit
Nov. 24: Paris Bass, Detroit
Dec. 1: Nick Daniels, Oakland
Dec. 8: Grant Benzinger, Wright State
Dec. 15: Jalen Hayes, Oakland
Dec. 22: Jalen Hayes, Oakland
Dec. 29: Tevonn Walker, Valparaiso
