St. Louis, Mo. – Darian Hooker of the New
York Institute of Technology was named the U.S. Basketball Writers
Association Division II National Players of the Week for the week
ending Feb. 8.
Hooker, a 6-1 senior guard from Washington, D.C., registered a pair
of 40-point games, the first two of his career in a pair of East
Coast Conference games last week. For the week, Hooker averaged
41.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 2.0 steals for NYIT (9-12, 6-7 ECC),
which lost at home to Dowling, 86-85, and picked up a 114-103
overtime win on the road at Bridgeport.
He played all 85 minutes of last week's games for NYIT, hitting
15-of-27 from the field including 7-of-13 three-pointers in the
40-point, eight-assist performance against Dowling on Feb. 4. Three
days later, Hooker hit 12-of-22 from the field and 4-of-7
three-pointers, and he sank 15-of-18 free throws to finish with 43
points and seven assists in the overtime win over Bridgeport. The
43 points ranks third all-time on NYIT's individual single-game
scoring list.
Each Tuesday, the USBWA is selecting men's and women's Division II National Players of the Week. This is the first season that the USBWA will recognize national players of the week from Division II.
Hooker becomes the third men's basketball player from the ECC to earn the USBWA national honor this season. Darien Davis of Dowling (week ending Dec. 21) and Gerald Beverly of Daemen (week ending Jan. 11) have previously won the award.
Contributions to the release made by the USBWA.
