Flittner, Henley Earn Big South Conference Weekly Hoops Awards
December 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE – Gardner-Webb's Grayson Flittner and Josh Henley
were each
honored with Big South Conference weekly awards by the league
office
Monday morning.
Flittner, a junior guard from Sharpsville, Ind., was named Big
South
Conference Choice Hotels Player of the Week. Henley, a freshman
forward
from Madison, Tenn., was named Big South Conference New Balance
Freshman of the Week.
Flittner heated up in Gardner-Webb's pair of wins last week,
averaging
22.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. The 6-0,
200-pounder netted a season-high 31 points in the Bulldogs' 96-90
win
at Western Carolina on Wednesday, hitting 8-of-14 shots from the
floor
(5-of-10 three pointers) and a perfect 10-of-10 at the charity
stripe –
and finished with five rebounds and five assists in
Gardner-Webb's
third win in a row over the Catamounts.
The preseason All-Big South guard followed with an easy 14 points
and
five assists in Gardner-Webb's 85-51 win over Ferrum, despite
playing
only 22 minutes due to the squad's big early lead. Flittner made
3-of-4
shots from deep in that game and 4-of-8 overall.
In the two games last week, Flittner made 12-of-22 shots from the
floor
(54.5 percent), 8-of-14 from three-point range (57.1 percent) and
a
perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line. Flittner, who leads the
Big
South in free throw percentage this season (92.7 percent) has now
made
20 free throws in a row, dating back to the second half of the
team's
game at South Carolina on November 25.
Henley earned his second Freshman of the Week honor of the season
with
excellent work on the glass, averaging 12.5 boards per game for
the
week.
Against Western Carolina, the 6-foot-4 forward came off the bench
to
score eight points and pull down four rebounds on perfect
4-of-4
shooting from the floor, but he saved his most impressive numbers
for
Saturday's rout of Ferrum.
In that December 20 game, Henley came off the bench to pull down
a
career-high 21 rebounds in just 23 minutes of play, helping GWU
exert
control of the boards on both ends. Henley pulled down 16
defensive
rebounds in the game, finished with just two points (hit only
shot
attempt), and added a pair of assists and a blocked shot.
Henley's 21 boards are the most for a GWU player since Thomas
Sanders
hauled down 23 caroms in a blowout of USC Upstate at home last
February.
Gardner-Webb (4-7, 1-1 Big South) returns to action on New Year's
Eve
(Dec. 31) at 7 pm ET against Anderson (S.C.) University in Paul
Porter
Arena. Tickets are available by calling (704) 406-4340.
NOTES: Gardner-Webb center Auryn MacMillan continued to shine as
well
last week in two games. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Australian
averaged
17.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting
a
sizzling 80.0 percent from the floor (12-of-15). MacMillan is
averaging
a career-best 9.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game so far in
2008-09.
