[2022-2023 MIAA Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its 11th 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 – Owen Long – Emporia State
Owen Long averaged 33.5 points per game as he shot 54.8 percent from the field, 52.4 percent from the three-point line and 90.9 percent from the free throw line last week. The junior guard scored a career high 34 points in the Hornets 69-60 win over Northeastern State. He hit a jumper in the lane to give ESU a three-possession lead with 1:19 left and then hit 4-of-4 at the free throw line in the final minute to ice the win over the RiverHawks. Long had his second straight 30-plus point game when he went for 33 in ESU’s 77-63 win over Rogers State. He scored 14 points in the first 5:10 of the second half as the Hornets turned a six-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead. Long hit four three-pointers a span of 2:22 during the run. His 69 made three pointers ranks 11th on the ESU single season list. He is also leading the MIAA in scoring this season.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Diego Bernard – Northwest Missouri
Diego Bernard secured a career-high 29 points and notched six steals as he played all 40 minutes in a 57-52 road win over Fort Hays State. Bernard grabbed five rebounds and handed out two assists in the triumph over the Tigers. He became only the eighth MIAA men’s basketball player to reach 2,000 career points in the matchup. Bernard scored a game-high 15 points in only 24 minutes of action as Northwest blew out Nebraska-Kearney, 76-36. Over the two games, Bernard averaged 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 steals, 2.5 assists and shot 84.2 percent from the free throw line (16-of-19).
 
Quentin Hardrict Jr. – Pittsburg State
Quentin Hardrict Jr. averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game for Pittsburg State last week. The senior point guard posted a double-double with 21 points and a career high 10 assists in the Gorillas 80-70 home loss to No. 4 Central Oklahoma. He followed that up with 19 points and eight assists in Pitt State’s 93-81 victory over Newman. For the week, Hardrict shot 50.0 percent from the field (16-of-32), including 83.3 precent from three-point range (5-of-6).
 
Christian Brundy – Missouri Southern
Christian Bundy was the consistent presence for the Lions helping them to two wins last week and the second win over a ranked Central Oklahoma team this season. On the week, the forward averaged 14.0 points, 7.7 rebounds (3.3 offensive rebounds) and 2.0 assists a game while shooting 68.0 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three. Against the Blue Tigers of Lincoln, Brundy came away with 17 points and five rebounds while shooting 77.8 percent from the field. In the 70-66 win over the Jets, Bundy had 13 points and nine rebounds to go with a block and steals and shooting 3-of-4 from the three. To close out the week in the win against the No. 4 Bronchos, Bundy had 12 points, nine rebounds with five being offensive, three assists and a block while shooting 71.4 percent from the field.
 
Kevin Kone – Lincoln
Kevin Kone had a huge performance in the Blue Tigers 57-49 win over Central Missouri. The senior forward led all players with 14 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks in Lincoln’s victory over Central Missouri. Kone shot 70.0 percent from the field and dished two assists as Lincoln won its third-straight home game and swept the season series against UCM for the first time since 1986-87. Kone, who leads NCAA Division II in rebounding, posted his MIAA-leading 10th double-double of the year against the Mules.
 
ALSO NOMINATED
Kaleb Hammeke (Fort Hays State), JaRon Thames (Missouri Western), Tyler Nelson (Washburn), Camryon Givens (Central Oklahoma)
 
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.