National News

 January 26, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Ricardo Ratliffe of Central Florida Community College, Tola Lawal of Erie Community College (N.Y.), and Jeffrey Cannon of Roxbury Community College (Mass.) have been named the NJCAA Basketball Men's Players of the Week for contests played through Jan. 24.

Ratliffe has earned the honor for Division I, Lawal is awarded the honor for Division II, and this week Jeffrey Cannon receives the nod for Division III.

Ratliffe, a 6'9" forward from Hampton, Va., put together a pair of double-doubles this week in helping the Patriots to two wins.  On Jan. 20 against Florida State College of Jacksonville, Ricardo scored 37 on 15 of 23 from the field, shot 7-10 from the charity stripe, grabbed 15 off the boards, and added to all this with two assists, 1 steal and 1 block in an 81-70 win.  On Jan. 23, Ratliffe dropped his second double-double scoring 40 points on 14 of 19 shooting and brought down 13 rebounds.  In that game he also went 9-14 from the free throw line, had three assists, a steal, and a block in the 110-102 double overtime win against St. John's River Community College.  For the week he averaged 38.5 points per game, shooting 69 percent (29-42), 16-24 from the charity stripe (67%), 14 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists, one steal, and one block.

 




Lawal, a 6'2" guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., helped Erie Community College (N.Y.) add three more wins to their record this week including a 100-99 thriller over No. 1 Monroe Community College (N.Y.).  On Jan. 19, Tola scored 29, with 10 rebounds, four assists, and four steals in 26 minutes of play to earn himself a double-double and earn the Kats a 116-99 win over Niagara CC (N.Y.).  Two days later, Lawal and the Kats earned a decisive 107-69 win over JCC-Olean where he scored 14 on 7 of 12 shooting with six rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 17 minutes of play.  On Jan. 23, in a win over #1 Monroe CC, Lawal had his biggest game of the week scoring 33 points on 14 of 19 shooting with five of those points coming from the foul line.  He would also grab eight rebounds, dish out one assist, and one steal in 35 minutes of play.  Overall for the week, Lawal averaged 25.3 points per game shooting 54.6 percent (30-55), 22.2 percent from beyond the arc (2-9), he shot 56 percent from the line (14-25), averaged eight rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.7 steals.

Cannon, a 6'5" guard/forward from Boston, Mass., had an impressive week with three double-doubles.  On Jan. 19, in an 88-64 win over Northern Essex Community College (Mass.), Cannon posted a stat line of 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assist and four blocked shots in 32 minutes of play.  Two days later in a 116-67 win over Massasoit Community College (Mass.), Jeffrey scored 23 points on 8 of 15 shooting, pulled down 11 rebounds, had three assists, two steals, one block, and shot 5 of 9 from three-point land.  On Jan. 23, in a tough 92-91 loss to Community College of Rhode Island, Cannon had 31 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and six steals.  For the week he averaged 25 points shooting 51.9 percent from the field (27-52), 50 percent from beyond the three-point line (10-20), and 57.9 percent from the free-throw line (11-19).  This week he also averaged 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.7 blocked shots.







Nov. 18
D1: Ricardo Ratliffe, Central Florida Community College
D2: Jost Hodge, Dean College, Md & Tony Lewis, Ellsworth Community College (Iowa)
D3: Kevin Arnold, Eastfield College (Texas)

Nov. 25
D1: Diante Watkins, Daley College (Ill.) & Rico Sanders of Alabama Southern Community College
D2: Hal Bateman, Des Moines Area Community College (Iowa)
D3: Robbie Rives, Davidson County Community College (N.C.)

Dec. 1
D1: Kevin Bristol, Broward College (Fla.)
D2: Ronnie Boggs, Johnson County Community College (Kan.)
D3: Ricardo Ortiz, Passaic County Community College (N.J.)

Dec. 8
D1: Antonio Dye, McCook Community College (Neb.)
D2: Omar Skinner, Salem Community College (N.C.)
D3: Ravon Dunbar, Roxbury Community College (Mass.)

Jan. 5
D1: Thomas Hawkins,  Broward College (Fla.)
D2: NO NOMINATIONS
D3: Bentley Hylton, Rainy River Community College (Minn.)

Jan. 12
D1: Marcus Williams, Cochise College (Ariz.)
D2: Raymond Dunn, Vance-Granville Community College (N.C.)
D3: Kevin Davis, Atlantic Cape Community College (N.J.)

Jan. 19
D1: Caleb Walker, Butler Community College (Kan.)
D2: Jermaine Love-Roberts, Prairie State College (Ill.)
D3: Anthony Siri, Northern Essex Community College (Mass.)