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LANCASTER, PA - Franklin & Marshall College center Steve Juskin (So., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) has been named the Centennial Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the period of November 19 through the 25th. A November 19th Honor Roll recipient, he averaged 17.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks this week as F&M, ranked fourth in the latest D3Hoops.com national poll, improved to 5-0 with wins over Elizabethtown, Averett and the University of the Sciences. Against Elizabethtown, Juskin posted a triple-double in the Diplomats' 83-80 win. He made 10-of-13 shots form the floor for 22 points, collected 14 rebounds and blocked a career-high and school record 10 shots. For Juskin, the triple-double was the second of his career as he is the only player in Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball history to accomplish the feat even once. On January 31st, he scored 14 points, ripped down 16 rebounds and dished out 10 assists to record the first known triple-double in Franklin & Marshall history in a 90-48 romp over Western Maryland College in the Mayser Center Further, his tally obliterated the previous best of 8 blocked shots held by Vince Hill from a game against Muhlenberg College during the 1972-73 season as he now has 10 in three games, just 43 behind the single season record of 53 set by Darren Sanborn during the 1995-96 season. As a team, the Diplomats would reset the single game record for most blocked shots with 16 against the Bluejays, Cas Thomas (Sr., Neshaminy, PA/Neshaminy) registered three and Asaf Ganot (Jr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) chipped in two. The performance erased the mark of 13 held by the Diplomats from last season's game against Western Maryland as Juskin blocked six, while Ganot added five for F&M, as the Diplomats denied 13 Terror shots. At the Gallaudet Tournament, he scored 31 points and gathered 20 boards to earn All-Tournament honors as F&M knocked off Averett, 81-51, and Division II University of the Sciences, 67-57, to claim the tournament title. On the year, Juskin leads the Centennial Conference with 9.6 rebounds per game, and is tied with Tony Beers of Dickinson College for fifth in scoring with an average of 17.0 points per contest. He leads a dominating group of players as Thomas and two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year Alex Kraft (Sr., Lansdale, PA/Lansdale Catholic) rank 18th and 19th in the Conference with averages of 11.5 and 11.4 points per game. Overall, four F&M players are averaging double-digits as guard Larry Fain (Sr., Crum Lynne, PA/Chester) ranks 12th with 14.6 points per game, while point guard Duran Searles (So., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) is just off the pace with a 9.0 average through the first five games. On the boards, Kraft and Thomas are quickly moving up the all-time F&M and Centennial Conference leader boards. Kraft moved past three players into fifth place on the Conference's career rebound list with 26 caroms last week. He now has 595 rebounds and needs five more to become the fifth player in Centennial history to collect 600 rebounds. His 1,326 career points place him seventh on the all-time CC list and eighth on the F&M career chart, eight points shy of surpassing the 1,333 mark of Phil Hoeker '89 for seventh all-time in the College's history. Thomas, who earned MVP honors at Gallaudet by averaging 16 points and 7.5 rebounds, tallied 24 caroms last week become the 14th player in F&M history to record 500 rebounds in a career. Through 89 games, he now has 517 boards, three shy of surpassing John Boyer '79 for 13th on the all-time leader board at the College. Franklin & Marshall (5-0, 0-0 CC) will continue the season on Wednesday versus Wesley College in the Mayser Center at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Diplomats will open the 2001-02 Centennial Conference regular season at Muhlenberg College in the 112th meeting between the two institutions. F&M, which holds a 56-55 advantage in the series, trails the Mules 7-6 in Centennial Conference games as Muhlenberg avenged a 64-52 regular season loss with a 76-58 win in the Conference playoffs. Game time in Allentown is set for 2:00 p.m.
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