First Posted: 2/3/2015
BLUFFTON — Bluffton’s Thayne Recker has been selected as the Division III Men’s Basketball Player of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association after collecting his second D3Hoops.com Team of the Week honor in three weeks.
The junior standout punished Hanover with 53 points, on 14-of-24 shooting, and added a career-high 15 rebounds in the 103-102 triple overtime win over the Panthers, breaking the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference record held by Manchester’s Burt Paddock since January of 1996. Recker also set new HCAC and Bluffton records for free throws made (25) and free throws attempted (28) in the contest. His 53 points topped Scott Bergman’s school mark of 50 set against Anderson in January of 2005.
The record-setting performance is also the highest point total by any NCAA Division III player this season. Earlier in the week, Recker scored 19 points with 12 rebounds in a 73-51 loss to rival Defiance. For the week, he averaged 36.0 points and 13.5 rebounds per contest, while shooting 53.7 percent from the field.
