KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its first MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week, presented by Shift Group, for the 2022-23 season.
 
MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week – Bennett Stirtz – Northwest Missouri     
Bennett Stirtz begun his collegiate career by scoring in double figures in all of the Bearcats first four contests this season. The true freshman from Liberty, Mo. averaged a team-best 14.5 points per game, while shooting 67.7 percent from the floor, including 7-of-13 from three-point range. He has handed out 16 assists to go against one turnover in 121 minutes of game action. Stirtz did not miss a field goal in his debut against No. 5-ranked West Texas A&M in Lakeland, Fla. Stirtz went 6-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-2 at the line and sank his only three-point shot. He dished out five assists and did not commit a single turnover against the Buffs in a season-opening 78-62 Northwest victory. Stirtz tallied 10 points, four assists, four steals and a rebound in an 88-75 victory over Flagler in Lakeland, Fla. He put up a season-high 17 points and six rebounds in an 81-78 triumph over Northern State in St. Joseph, Mo. Stirtz made 5-of-7 field goals, including 3-of-4 from three-point range against the Wolves. He had three assists and no turnovers in 35 minutes of action. Stirtz notched 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in a 79-42 blowout of Minnesota Crookston on Saturday in St. Joseph. He made 6-of-10 shots from the floor and went 2-of-4 from three-point range. He did not commit a turnover in 27 minutes of play.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Stevie Strong – Newman
Stevie Strong came within six points of breaking Newman’s single game scoring record as he had 40 points in the Jets season opener against Concordia St. Paul. Strong’s career day performance put him tied for second in the Newman record books in single game scoring and was the most points scored by a Newman player since 2017. The sophomore guard finished the two-day Holiday Inn Express Regional challenge with 51 points while shotting 50 percent from the field. Strong also made seven three-point shots and was 16-of-20 from the free throw line.
 
Jaden Wells – Central Oklahoma
Jaden Wells led No. 11-ranked Central Oklahoma to a season-opening win over Paul Quinn College, wrapping up a wild weekend for the Bronchos. Central Oklahoma’s trip to North Dakota was cancelled due to weather so the Bronchos made up one of those two contests with Paul Quinn Sunday in Edmond. Wells scored a game-high 22 points to go with five rebounds, one assist and one steal. He was 7-for-12 from the floor, 3-for-7 from behind the arc and the defending NCAA Division II free-throw champion was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.
 
Mayuom Buom – Emporia State
Mayuom Buom shot 85.7 percent from the field and missed just two shots as the Hornets opened the season with two double digit wins over NCAA Division II schools for the first time in school history. Buom had 18 points on 7-of-eight shooting from the field with five rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes of the Hornets 67-57 win over Arkansas Tech to open the season. He then came back with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting with eight rebounds the next night in an 88-65 win at Southwestern Oklahoma.
 
ALSO NOMINATED
Kaleb Hammeke (Fort Hays State), Deshaun English II (Pittsburg State), Darrian Nebeker (Nebraska Kearney), Zion Swader (Missouri Western), Gaven Pinkley (Central Missouri) Avery Taggart (Missouri Southern), Jaden Monday (Washburn)
 
ABOUT SHIFT GROUP
Shift Group is a training and recruiting platform placing talented, retired collegiate and professional athletes in high caliber Software Sales positions. Athletes spend their lives engaging in team-based activities where they are rewarded for performance-based outcomes. Competitive drive, work ethic, and the desire to win are innate qualities of those performing at elite levels. Athletes at this level must have discipline, resilience, and grit. These are the intangible parts of any elite athlete’s identity. When combined with confidence, curiosity, and coachability, these traits separate great athletes – and great salespeople. Salesmanship can be taught. It requires the right attitude, habits, and skills – learned, practiced, and repeated in the right environment in order to be mastered. Once an athlete finishes Shift Group training, they get access to hiring managers at Startups, Fortune 500’s, and other organizations building out sales teams across the globe – with the Shift Group team coaching them through every step of the process.