Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball senior guard DeShaun Cooper was named the MIAA Athlete of the Week, in a release from the conference office on Monday. The award is the first for Cooper in his career for the Bearcats.

In a battle between two of the top teams in the MIAA, Cooper responded with a career-best 32-point performance, including the game-winning jump shot with 3.3 secondsleft to give Northwest a 79-78 victory over Missouri Southern on Jan. 22. Cooper played 38 minutes, hitting five three pointers and going 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.

On the year, Cooper is averaging 15.0 points per game and has a team-best 17.7 scoring average in MIAA games. He has made a team-high 40 three pointers and is averaging 4.5 assists per contest. For his career, Cooper has scored 1,409 points, ranking seventh all-time in Northwest history.

The Bearcats will head to Lindenwood on Thursday, Jan. 30, to take on the Lions at Hyland Arena starting at 7:30 p.m.

— Northwest Sports Information —