Sykes, Williams Notch Men's Basketball Weekly Honors

INDIANAPOLIS -- Green Bay junior guard Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) has been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, while Valparaiso freshman guard Lexus Williams (Chicago, Ill./Marist) has been named the Freshman of the Week, for the week of Nov. 25-Dec. 1. The award is the sixth of Sykes’ career and second of the season, while Williams is receiving the honor for the first time.

Green Bay (4-2) took third place at the Great Alaska Shootout, opening with a 97-89 win over Pepperdine on Thanksgiving. The following day, the Phoenix held a late lead on #rv/rv Harvard before a Crimson burst sent Green Bay to a 76-64 defeat. Green Bay closed the tournament with a 67-59 win over Tulsa.

Valparaiso (5-4) nearly led wire-to-wire, beginning the week with an 85-70 victory over UCF. On Friday, the Crusaders fell in triple overtime to Mercer, 117-108, before rebounding the next day with a 94-58 win against Cincinnati Christian.

Sykes scored 20 or more points in all three games in Anchorage, beginning with a 23-point, 7-assist effort against Pepperdine. The junior followed up the performance by going 10-of-17 from the floor en route to a game-high 26 points versus Harvard. As a finale, Sykes had 25 points and nine assists against Tulsa, accounting for 15 of Green Bay’s 22 field goals.

In his 70th career game, the junior moved past 1,000 career points against Tulsa, becoming the third-quickest player in Green Bay’s Division I history to reach the mark. Sykes is the 149th player in Horizon League history to reach the plateau.

With six career player of the week awards, Sykes is now Green Bay’s all-time leader in the category. The achievement is now tied for seventh all time in League history.

Continuing to start at the point for Valparaiso, Williams scored in double figures in all three games. The freshman opened the week with 10 points and four assists against the Golden Knights before posting a career-high 15 points versus Mercer. Williams played 51 of a possible 55 minutes in the game. The following day, Williams added 11 points and a career-best eight rebounds as Valparaiso cruised to the win.

Green Bay will reacclimate to the central time zone during the week before hosting #rv/rv Virginia on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 5 p.m. ET. ESPNU will carry the game, which will see the Phoenix’s all-time leading scorer, Tony Bennett, return to Green Bay with the Cavaliers. Valparaiso will travel to Muncie, Ind., for a mid-week game with Ball State on Wednesday, Dec. 4 (7 p.m. ET), before hosting #--/rv Saint Louis on Saturday at 8:05 p.m. ET. The Horizon League Network will carry the game live.

Top Performers for the Week:

• Jordan Aaron, Milwaukee (Sr., G) - Knocked down a season-high seven 3-pointers en route to 33 points as Milwaukee knocked off UMKC, 84-79.
• Travis Bader, Oakland (Sr., G) - With nine 3-pointers across two games, Bader extended his streak with a made three to 61 games while moving into 13th on the NCAA career 3-pointers list with 394.
• Kelsey Barlow, UIC (Sr., G) - Two days after scoring a career-high 17 points, exploded for 38 in UIC’s 94-76 win over Wagner, the most in the Horizon League since Cleveland State’s Norris Cole had 41 on Feb. 12, 2011.
• Kamren Belin, Youngstown State (Sr., F) - Scored 25 of his career-high 32 points in the second half of Youngstown State’s 83-79 loss at Kent State.
• Evan Bruinsma, Detroit (Sr., F) - Posted his second straight game with 10 or more points, finishing with 11 to go along with a team-high eight rebounds as the Titans knocked off USF.
• Bobby Capobianco, Valparaiso (Sr., F) - Recorded his first double-double of the season against Mercer, posting a career-best 23 points and 10 rebounds. The performance came on the heels of a 14-point, 9-rebound effort versus UCF.
• Cole Darling, Wright State (Sr., F) - Returned to the starting lineup, posting a season-high 18 points in the Raiders’ 73-55 win over Alcorn State.
• Trey Lewis, Cleveland State (So., G) - Moving into the starting lineup, Lewis scored 15 points in CSU’s near-upset of Kentucky, then followed up the effort with a career-high 23 points as the Vikings rolled past Ball State, 78-55.
• Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State (Sr., G) - Became the first Horizon League player this year with two games with 30 or more points, posting 32 in the Penguins’ 88-86 loss to Austin Peay.

Men’s Basketball Player of the Week:
Nov. 11: Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State
Nov. 18: Steve McWhorter, Milwaukee
                Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Nov. 25: Alec Brown, Green Bay
Dec. 2:   Keifer Sykes, Green Bay

Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week:
Nov. 11: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Nov. 18: Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Nov. 25: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Dec. 2:   Lexus Williams, Valparaiso

Horizon League Men's Basketball Player of the Week Release (Dec. 2, 2013)