Askew Earns SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week for CMS Men's Basketball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior forward TJ Askew earned the SCIAC's Defensive Player of the Week Award for games through Sunday, Dec. 19, the league office announced today.

Askew earned the honor after helping the Stags improve to 8-1 on the year with a 79-67 win over Pacific (Ore.), a team which visited Claremont on Friday with a scoring average of over 90 points per game. He had three blocked shots and two steals on the day, including two of each in a second half when the Stags asserted their dominance, turning a 31-31 tie at intermission into a 12-point final margin of victory. 

In fact, Askew was nominated for both SCIAC weekly awards after also tallying a career-high 26 points on the offensive end of the floor, including 16 in the second half, of an impressive two-way performance. Mason Johnson of Cal Lutheran earned the Offensive Player of the Week, though, after scoring 28 in a win for the Kingsmen. 

Askew becomes the second SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week winner for the Stags, after Matt Meredith earned the distinction after helping CMS to a 57-53 win over Pomona-Pitzer, and the third SCIAC award winner overall after Josh Angle earned the Offensive Player of the Week following his 30-point performance in a season opening win over Puget Sound. 

CMS, which is riding a six-game winning streak, will return to action on Dec. 29, when it hosts Skidmore for a 5 p.m. contest.