DES MOINES – Iowa Wesleyan College junior guard Keenan Stanbridge (Quincy, Ill.), whose late game heroics lifted the Tiger men’s basketball team to victory in the championship game of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament, has been named MCC Player of the Week as announced Tuesday.
Stanbridge hit the three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining that was the winning basket in IWC’s 91-90 win over Grand View University Sunday night, a win that clinched the MCC’s automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Tournament. He also had 15 points in the game, including five three-pointers, three coming in a span of 1:07 in the first half as Wesleyan overcame an early seven-point deficit.
In IWC’s three games in the MCC Tournament Stanbridge averaged 14.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 63% from the field (17 of 27) and 53.5% (8-for-15) from three-point range. He had 14 points and a career high 10 rebounds in Wesleyan’s 88-73 win over Ashford University in the quarterfinals, and added 15 points and six rebounds in the 96-66 semifinal win over William Penn University.
Stanbridge is averaging 10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this season for the Tigers, who enter the postseason with a 20-10 record and have won 12 of their last 13 games. He also leads the team and is fourth in the MCC with 69 three-pointers made for the season. Stanbridge is the second IWC men’s player to win the conference’s weekly award, joining teammate Brett Humpal (Sr.-Decorah, Iowa), who won the award on five occasions this season.
Iowa Wesleyan begins play in the NAIA Division II national tourney next week, with the tournament running March 11-17 in Point Lookout, Mo. The Tigers will be making their fourth trip to the national tournament all-time, their third trip to the Division II tourney and their first since 2006. Brackets for the tourney will be released by the NAIA Thursday morning.
For more information regarding the IWC basketball programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
