NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - After scoring a new season high and leading his team to a 1-1 week, Wilmington University men's basketball senior Corye Payton has been named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Player of the Week, announced by the conference office on Monday.
Payton (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Township) continued his late season surge this past week by adding two more games of at least 20 points, helping the Wildcats to a much needed CACC victory on Saturday over Felician. He tallied 20 points against Philadelphia on Tuesday, before putting together a season's best 30 point contest against Felician on Saturday. He has now scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games, and six of his last eight games overall.
In the victory on Saturday, the senior shot 11-for-19 from the floor, including 4-for-10 from beyond the three-point arc and added four points from the foul line. Payton also grabbed six rebounds and collected three steals in the win.
Earlier in the week against Philadelphia, Payton shot 6-for-12 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from down town and a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe for a total of 20 points. He also grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists against the Rams.
For the week, he averaged 25 points and 4.5 rebounds a game, playing in 74 out of the possible 80 minutes.
The guard raised his season's average to 17.6 points per game, making him the CACC's third leading scorer. He is shooting a remarkable 53.2 percent from the floor and 42.5 percent from the three-point arc on the season. He is currently fifth in three-point field goal percentage in the CACC and eighth in overall field goal percentage.
Payton is Wilmington's first CACC basketball Player of the Week since Antonio Sherrod earned the honor on January 19, 2010 and the first CACC weekly award of any kind since Herbert Dennis earned the CACC Rookie of the Week honor on February 14 last season. Payton was also honored last week with the Sam Cozen Small College Player of the Week award.
The Wildcats have three CACC contests this week, starting with a makeup game against Concordia tonight at 7 p.m. They will look to make a move up the CACC South Division standings this week as they travel to Chestnut Hill on Thursday and to Nyack on Saturday.