General | 12/16/2024 11:45:08 AM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on December 16, 2024, for games played from December 9-December 15. It is the 16th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2024-25 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s basketball, men's ice hockey and men’s wrestling.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – LaMarqus Merchant Jr., SUNY Poly, Sr., G, Utica, NY/Utica Academy of Science
Merchant scored 13 points and dished out a season-high 12 assists to go along with seven rebounds and four steals to lead SUNY Poly to a 99-67 win over SUNY Potsdam on Saturday. He went 3-of-4 from behind the arc and had six assists in each half. Merchant’s 12 assists were the most by an Empire 8 student-athlete in two seasons. He leads the league and is in the top-15 nationally, averaging 6.0 assists per contest and has a 3.8 assist to turnover ratio in 2024-25.
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Sebastian Pacheco, SUNY Geneseo, Sr., G, White Plains, NY/Valhalla
Pacheco tallied a career-high 29 points in a 77-71 win over Hilbert College on Monday evening, shooting 11-of-17 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line. He also stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five steals, three assists and a block. Pacheco exploded for 23 of his 29 points in the second half on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Joey Mclaurin, Hartwick, Fr., G, Mastic Beach, NY/William Floyd
Mclaurin scored a career-high 28 points, while draining seven shots from 3-point range, while dishing our four assists in 28 minutes at Bard on Saturday. He scored 17 of his 28 points in the opening half. It is Mclaurin’s second E8 weekly accolade of the season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Kayla Camacho, Houghton, Sr., G, Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg Christian
Camacho averaged 16.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game, while shooting 49 percent from the floor and over 50 percent from 3-point range, as Houghton won three games to wrap up its non-league schedule and improve to 9-0 on the season. She stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the floor, eight boards, five assists and three steals.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Natalie Vredenburgh, Hartwick, Fr., G, Delhi, NY/Delaware Academy
Vredenburgh made the most out of her return to her hometown of Delhi, collecting two new career highs of 12 points and nine rebounds in the 63-30 triumph over SUNY Delhi on Sunday. She was 5-of-7 from the floor, while adding an assist and a steal in 25 minutes of action.
MEN’S ICE HOCKEY
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Logan Tobias, Nazareth, Jr., F, West Seneca, NY/Lone Star Brahmas (NAHL)
Tobias scored two goals, including the game-winning tally in Nazareth’s 4-2 win over Hamilton College to wrap up the 2024 calendar year on Friday evening. He scored with 4:58 left in the first period to give the Golden Flyers a 2-0 lead and upped Nazareth’s lead to 3-1 with a second period power-play goal.
GOALIE OF THE WEEK – Lincoln Crosby, Nazareth, So., G, Chevy Chase, MD/Team Maryland (EHL)
Crosby made a career-high 36 saves on 38 shots, as Nazareth earned a 4-2 win over Hamilton College on Friday night to close out the 2024 calendar year. Crosby withstood a Hamilton barrage in the opening period, stopping all 16 shots he faced, as Nazareth jumped out to a 2-0 lead. He made 10 saves in the second period and 10 more in the third to earn his second win of the season.
MEN’S WRESTLING
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK – Marquis Larmond, SUNY Brockport, Gr., 165 lbs., Queens, NY/Grand Street Campus
Larmond won a pair of matches, as the Golden Flyers won a pair of dual matches over Pitt-Bradford and host Alfred State College on Saturday. He began the day by defeating Mamady Moore of Pitt-Bradford via technical fall, 18-2, as the Golden Eagles rolled to a 45-5 dual match win. Larmond scored four crucial points in Brockport’s 27-21 win over Alfred State, defeating Benjamin Rivera via an 11-1 major decision.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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