February 3, 2015

D3Hoops Team of the Week  I  USBWA National Player of Week

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The honors keep rolling in for Bluffton standout Thayne Recker (Arlington) after his record-setting performance in Saturday's triple overtime thriller against Hanover on Saturday. One day after he was named the Heartland Conference Player of the Week for the third time this season, Recker was selected as the Division III Men's Basketball Player of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association after collecting his second D3Hoops.com Team of the Week honor in three weeks.

The junior standout punished Hanover with 53 points, on 14-of-24 shooting, and added a career-high 15 rebounds in the win over the Panthers, breaking the HCAC record held by Manchester’s Burt Paddock since January of 1996. Recker also set new HCAC and Bluffton records for free throws made (25) and free throws attempted (28) in the contest. His 53 markers topped Scott Bergman's school mark of 50 set against Anderson in January of 2005.                        

The record-setting performance is also the highest point total by any NCAA Division III player this season. Earlier in the week, Recker scored 19 points with 12 rebounds in a 73-51 loss to rival Defiance. For the week, he averaged 36.0 points and 13.5 rebounds per contest, while shooting 53.7 percent from the field. 

Recker is the first Heartland Conference men's basketball player to be named the USBWA National Player of the Week, an award that is in its first year of existence at the Division III level. His selection to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week is the second time he has been accorded that honor in the past three weeks. Recker earned his first Team of the Week selection after leading Bluffton to wins over rival Defiance, when he dropped in a then career-high 34 points, and Transylvania.

His 53 points pushed Recker back over 20 points per game at 20.5 PPG which is currently second in the HCAC. His 9.7 RPG are more than two boards per game better than his closest rival in the conference. Recker is also seventh in the HCAC with a 53.2 field goal percentage despite seeing two or three defenders every time he touches the ball.

Bluffton (9-10, 5-7 HCAC) is slated to host Manchester and Franklin this week. The Spartans and Beavers hook up at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.

-BEAVERS-