SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina’s James Sinclair has been named the Southern Conference Player of the Week for all games played Dec. 23 through Jan. 5, while Mercer’s Jordan Strawberry earned the CRONS Freshman of the Week Award, the league office announced Tuesday (Jan. 6).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: James Sinclair, G, Sr., Savannah, Ga.
James Sinclair averaged 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals over three games.  The senior scored at least 20 points in three Catamount wins over St. Catharine (86-70), The Citadel (78-70) and Furman (72-53).  A native of Savannah, Ga., Sinclair shot 55 percent over the three games and connected on 6-of-11 from 3-point range and was 16-of-17 from the free-throw line.  In SoCon games last week, Sinclair scored a game-high 22 points against The Citadel on Saturday and followed that with another game-high 20 points against Furman on Monday.  He added team highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (four) against the Paladins.

Other nominees: Ashton Moore (The Citadel), Jalen Riley (ETSU), Ike Nwamu (Mercer), Marcus Johnson (Samford), Justin Tuoyo (Chattanooga) and Karl Cochran (Western Carolina).

CRONS Freshman of the Week: Jordan Strawberry, G, Santa Ana, Calif.
Mercer’s Jordan Strawberry has been named the CRONS Freshman of the Week award after averaging 10.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in four games over the holidays.  Strawberry shot 56 percent from the field over four games and handed out 12 assists against just four turnovers.  The Santa Ana, Calif., native came off the bench and scored a season-high 21 points in a triple-overtime loss at Georgia (Dec. 27).  The freshman was the team’s second-leading scorer with 12 points off the bench at Texas A&M.  

Other nominees: Jake Wright (The Citadel) and Christen Cunningham (Samford).

SoCon Men’s Basketball Player of the Week
Nov. 18 – James Sinclair, Western Carolina
Nov. 25 – Karl Cochran, Wofford
Dec. 2 – Casey Jones, Chattanooga
Dec. 9 – QJ Peterson, VMI
Dec. 16 – Tevon Saddler, UNCG
Dec. 23 – Tyler Hood, Samford
Jan. 6 – James Sinclair, Western Carolina