St. John Fisher College has named #Ozell Franklin# of the men’s basketball team as the College’s Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending January 25, 2009. For the same period, Franklin has also been named as the Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.
In a 2-0 week for the Cardinals (14-2 overall, 5-1 Empire 8), the sophomore guard had the hot hand, averaging 23.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.5 steals as Fisher pushed its win streak to seven games for the second time this season. For the week, Franklin shot 17-of-29 (58.6%) from the field, including an impressive 9-for-16 (56.3%) from behind the 3-point arc, and recorded a new career-high for points in a game (25).
In his team’s 77-46 win over host Alfred University to open the week, Franklin hit six of his eight 3-pointers (75.0%) and shot 7-of-11 from the field to end the contest with a game-high 21 points (one off his previous career-high), including 14 in the first half.
Franklin closed out the week with a career-high 25 points in the Cardinals 83-77 victory over East Avenue-rival Nazareth College. He poured in 17 points in the first half alone, and continued to shoot the ball well (10-of-18).
For the season, Franklin leads the squad with an average 12.2 points per contest, and is also Fisher’s top 3-point shooter with 33 made attempts from distance (33-for-91, 36.3%). Last year’s Empire 8 Conference Co-Rookie of the Year, Franklin has dished out 23 assists while ranking third on the team with 18 steals in 15 starts this season.
Fisher has won seven consecutive games, and will return to action this weekend with a pair of key Empire 8 Conference games. Fisher will take on Hartwick College at 8 p.m on Friday night before making the trip to Hoboken, NJ to matchup with Stevens Institute of Technology at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
