McCollum wins second straight Patriot League Player of the Week award
Posted: 02/20/2012 | Last updated: February 21, 2012 at 08:18 AM
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh standout C.J. McCollum continues to rack in the accolades as he earned his second straight Patriot League Player of the Week award on Monday. It marks McCollum’s fifth honor in the last eight weeks and sixth this season (to tie the league record he set last season). In the process, he extended his career record to 12 Player of the Week honors, four more than any other Patriot League player.
McCollum helped lead Lehigh to a pair of key victories that brought the squad within a game of first-place Bucknell with two to play. The Canton, Ohio native began on Thursday by posting 15 points and seven rebounds in a thrilling 56-53 road win. That included the game-winning three-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining to break a 53-53 tie, a moment that was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day. McCollum’s three helped snap a number of Bucknell streaks, including 12 straight wins and 20 straight wins over Patriot League foes, among others.
McCollum rode the momentum into a Senior Day tilt vs. Lafayette less than 48 hours later, scoring a game-high 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting while adding eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. The Mountain Hawks went on to beat the Leopards, 72-53 to improve to 21-7 overall and 9-3 in league play. Lehigh is within one win of tying its single-season school record.
With 37 points on the week, McCollum upped his career total to 1,909 (remaining fourth in Patriot League history and third in school history). His 601 points this season are already seventh-best in single-season school history. He’s averaging 21.5 points per game (leading the Patriot League and seventh in the nation) and 6.7 rebounds (third) along with 95 total assists (tied for third). His 2.6 steals per contest lead the league and stand 10th nationally.
Lehigh rounds out regular season play with a pair of road games this week. The Mountain Hawks travels to Navy Wednesday (7 p.m.) before heading to Army on Saturday (4 p.m.).
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