Junior Jimmie Hunt leads Franklin Pierce into tonight's NE-10 Quarterfinal at UMass Lowell after earning his first Conference Player of the Week award this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce Pair Earn Player of the Week Honors
Hunt, Shannon selected in men’s basketball and tennis

RINDGE, N.H. (March 3, 2003) - A pair Franklin Pierce student-athletes were named Player of the Week in their respective sports by the Northeast-10 Conference office this afternoon.

Junior swingman Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat (Maine)) earned men’s basketball Player of the Week accolades, while senior Art Shannon (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) earned the same award for men’s tennis. It was the first such award in each student-athlete’s careers.

Hunt recorded his second career double-double to lead ninth-seeded Franklin Pierce (14-14, 11-11 NE-10) to a 74-70 victory over eighth-seeded Bryant College in first round action of the Northeast-10 men’s basketball tournament on Saturday. Hunt totaled 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field, including 4-7 from three-point range, to go with a career-high matching ten rebounds and three assists with no turnovers.

Hunt single-handedly kept the Ravens in the game in the first half as he netted 16 of their 33 points in the stanza, including 13 of their 15 over the final 6:26 of the half, as Bryant led 40-33 at the break. He drained a three-pointer to open the Franklin Pierce scoring in the second half to extend the streak to 16-of-18 points.

In three games against the Bulldogs this season, Hunt averaged 26.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He shot a combined 63-percent (24-38) from the field, including 6-12 from three-point land, and canned 25-26 free-throw attempts (96.1%).

Hunt has been the Ravens top scorer in seven-straight games heading into tonight’s NE-10 Quarterfinal battle with top-seeded and No. 9-ranked UMass Lowell (7 p.m.) and in 11 of their last 12 overall. Franklin Pierce is 8-3 in those 11 contests and Hunt is averaging 22 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists during that stretch, while shooting 58.7% (84-143) from the field, including 54.5% (30-55) from long distance and 81.5% (44-54) from the free-throw line.

Hunt is averaging 18.5 points (5th NE-10), 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest this season.

Senior tri-captain Art Shannon earns his first Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week honor

Shannon earned the men’s tennis award after he had a hand in two of three Franklin Pierce points in Saturday’s match against Green Mountain. He registered a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles after recording an 8-4 win at #2 doubles with teammate, Maciej Szpakowski (Cieszyn, Poland/Mattituck (N.Y.)).

Shannon, a first-team All-Northeast-10 selection last season, sports the team's best record in singles matches with a 3-1 clip overall. He also boasts a combined record of 3-1 at #2 and #3 doubles. During the Ravens fall portion of the schedule he captured the “B”-flight singles title at the Colby Sawyer College clay court tournament and teamed with sophomore Casey Kingman (Litchfield, Conn./Litchfield) to capture the No. 3 doubles title at the Salve Regina Grass Courts Tournament hosted by the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.

Franklin Pierce (2-2, 0-1 NE-10) returns to the courts on Saturday when it travels to East Hartford, Conn., for a Northeast-10 match up with Pace University at 5:30 p.m.