ST. LOUIS - Bradley men's basketball junior guard Sam Maniscalco (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick H.S.) has become the league's first male three-time winner of the Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week this year, according to an announcement from The Valley's office today.
The current Valley men's basketball Player of the Week, Maniscalco averaged 18.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game while leading the Braves to a pair of victories last week, a 67-65 home triumph Feb. 2 against Drake, followed by an 83-62 win Saturday at Evansville. He became the 43rd member of Bradley's 1,000-Point Club while scoring a game-high 21 points against Drake, then followed with 15 points, three rebounds and three steals at Evansville. With 17 more points in last night's game versus Illinois State, the 6-foot guard has pushed his career total to 1,046 points.
For the season, Maniscalco is Bradley's third-leading scorer at 12.5 points per game, but he is the team's leading scorer and The Valley's third-leading scorer in conference play at 15.2 ppg.
Boasting a 3.38 cumulative grade point average and majoring in sports communication, Maniscalco has earned a spot on the Bradley Athletic Director's Honor Roll during each of his first five college semesters.
The Valley's men's basketball Player of the Week in two of the last three weeks, Maniscalco also earned the league's weekly male scholar-athlete award Dec. 2 and Jan. 27. While Wichita State volleyball player Emily Stockman claimed the female version three times during the fall, Maniscalco is the first male student-athlete from The Valley's 10 institutions to earn the honor three times during the 2009-10 academic year.
Maniscalco and the Braves (12-12, 7-7 MVC) will return to action Saturday when they host league-leading and 18th-ranked Northern Iowa (21-2, 12-1 MVC) in a 1:05 p.m. tilt at Carver Arena. Saturday's game will be televised by the MVC-TV network on Fox Sports Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City and Metro Sports.
