The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MALACHI McCoy received a weekly honour as the top player in his conference and Lathaniel Bastian scored a new career high to highlight play from Bahamian student athletes in NCAA Division II basketball.

McCoy, the Benedict Tigers junior forward, was named the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) men’s basketball Player of the Week.

He led his Tigers to a weekend split in a home-and-away series with the Fort Valley State University Wildcats over the weekend.

In the opener, McCoy came off the bench to score 13 points and grab a game-high 14 rebounds in a 61-58 loss at Fort Valley State. In Saturday’s rematch, he came off the bench again to score 17 points and grab a team-high nine rebounds in an 80-75 victory over the Wildcats.

For the week, McCoy shot 11-of-17 (.647) from the floor and had three blocked shots.

McCoy followed with another double double in last night’s 96-78 win over Clark Atlanta University. He posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in just 24 minutes off the bench.

Benedict improved to 16-5 and plays at Allen University at 7pm tonight local time.

McCoy continues his breakout season filled with career highs, averaging 11.1 points and a team-leading 8.9 rebounds per game. He also leads the team with 28 blocked shots and is third in minutes played per game (25.4) despite just four starts.

Lathaniel Bastian set a new career high in his career with the Angelo State Rams and helped his team return to the win column earlier this week.

Bastian scored 23 points on 7-12 shooting, adding nine rebounds, three steals and a block in a hard-fought 79-74 loss to Western New Mexico.

The junior forward followed with 12 points in an 88-68 win over St Mary’s at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday night. He shot 4-7 from the field and added seven rebounds in an efficient 17 minutes off the bench.

His game-high effort on the boards led the Rams to a dominant performance in the paint. They outrebounded S Mary’s 39-24 and outscored them 42-20 in the paint.

The win improves the Rams’ overall record to 15-7 and brings their Lone Star Conference record back to .500 at 5-5.

The Rams will return home in their next game tonight when they host Texas A&M-Kingsville at the Junell Center.

In his first year with the programme, Bastian is averaging 11 points per game in 12 starts through 22 games. He leads the team in both rebounds per game at 8.1 and blocked shots with 33. He is also third in steals with 24. Jonathan McFall and Slippery Rock University continue to struggle since COVID-19 health and safety protocols forced changes to the schedule to begin the second half of the season of 2022.

The junior guard finished with 12 points and five rebounds in a 72-61 loss to the No.8 ranked Indiana University of Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks. It was their second consecutive loss to the Red Hawks following a 70-65 decision on Saturday.

Slippery Rock has lost three consecutive games and six of their last seven.

Since the calendar flipped to 2022, SRU has gone just 2-7 with another two postponements.

In his first year with the programme, McFall is averaging 14.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He is second on the team with 18 blocked shots and is third with 23 steals.