Players of the Week

Mr. Basketball USA candidate Cliff Alexander leads first group of Student Sports National Player of the Week honorees. These honorees are chosen based on performances from games played from Dec. 9-Dec. 17 and they are based on the same regional breakdowns as our regional Top 20 team rankings.

RELATED: Updated FAB 50 National Rankings

Student Sports National
Players of the Week

East
Dontay Caruthers (East, Rochester, N.Y.)

Dontay’s selection is from a game partly from this week, but we didn’t want to wait to give him this shout out. The game was played Tuesday night in Rochester and saw the 6-foot-2 senior guard rain down 53 points in a 85-64 win against Edison Tech of Rochester.

Not only that, but Caruthers also scored 50 points in his previous game and the two outings put him at more than 1,000 points for his career.

Last season, the 6-foot-2 senior guard, who has an offer from Canisius but could be getting more if he keeps up his current pace, averaged 28 point per game.

Southeast
Ricky Doyle (Bishop Verot, Fort Myers, Fla.)

The host school for this week’s Culligan City of Palms tournament, arguably the best of its kind in the nation, actually has a very good player of its own.

So far in the early-season, Doyle is averaging 30.3 points per game. He broke the school record last week with a 41-pount outing to lead the Vikings to a 75-50 victory over LaBelle. The win also gave Bishop Verot head coach Matt Herting his 350th career win.

Doyle is a 6-foot-9 senior center who was one of the top players in southeast Florida last season. He has signed with Michigan.

Midwest
Cliff Alexander (Curie, Chicago, Ill.)

One of the reasons that Curie has rocketed into the top 10 of the early-season national rankings (including our own Student Sports FAB 50) has been the play of this 6-foot-9 power forward.

Alexander, who signed with Kansas is one of the nation’s top Mr. Basketball USA candidates, posted a triple-double last week when Curie crushed Dunbar of Chicago 83-32. He had 30 points, 24 rebounds and 15 blocks. Last season as a junior, Alexander earned second team All-American honors after averaging 21.3 points with 13 rebounds and five blocks per game.

Southwest
Delfincko Bogan (Charleston, Mo.)

Just a few weeks after Bogan concluded an outstanding football season, he poured in 40 points and had six steals and five rebounds in a 79-67 victory for the Bluejays over Poplar Bluff in the consolation final of the SEMO Conference tournament.

Through his first few games, the 5-foot-9 junior point guard was averaging 27.2 points per game.

As a football player, Bogan recently earned All-Southeast Missouri region honors as a defensive back. He also played quarterback and was a dangerous kick returner.

West
Silas Melson (Jefferson, Portland, Ore.)

In a matchup last week between Jefferson (the defending Class 6A state champs) and Student Sports West Region ranked West Linn (the defending Class 5A state champs), Melson was sensational for the Democrats in leading them to a 75-66 triumph.

The 6-foot-2 senior guard, who is headed to Gonzaga, pumped in 36 points. He also helped limit standout guard Payton Pritchard of West Linn to just one field goal and six points.