March 24, 2015

ST. LOUIS – A gutty, 55-minute performance in double overtime has earned Bloomington’s Justin Bocot the Midwest Professional Basketball Association Player of the Week award for the week ending March 22, 2015, his third such award of the season.

                    After being limited to 19 points earlier in the week, Bocot, the league’s leading scorer at 26.5 points per game, scored 30 points on Sunday in a crucial 157-151 double-overtime win over the Gateway Steam.  Along with his 30 points, Bocot pulled down eleven rebounds and dished out five assists, while going 14-of-16 from the free throw line.

                    Bocot’s teammate, C.J. Hampton, scored 31 points in the same game to earn consideration.  His season-high followed up a 20-point performance earlier in the week, when he went 4-of-8 from three-point range.  Hampton is the MPBA’s leading three-point shooter, with 48 made.

                    In the double-OT epic, Gateway’s Tarvin Gaines scored 31 points and snared ten rebounds before fouling out.

                    Champaign’s Aaron Weaver scored 35 points in a win over the Chicago Force on March 18, and Swarm teammate Malcolm Griffin scored 29 points and tallied seven assists in the same game.  St. Louis’ Marcus Goode also scored 26 points and grabbed twelve rebounds in a huge win over Bloomington on Thursday, March 18.

                    Complete statistics can be found at the league website, www.theMPBA.com.