City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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In the regular season’s next-to-last week, DeAndre’ Bembry put on two outstanding showings in a pair of St. Joseph’s wins. And because of it, Bembry was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday.

It’s the second such honor of the year for Bembry, who scored 27 points in Sunday’s win against St. Louis after notching 18 points against UMass earlier in the week. The junior wing also averaged 8.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the two wins.

With 17.2 points per game on the season, Bembry ranks 12th in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, and he also is seventh in the conference in rebounding with 8.0 per game and seventh in assists at 4.4.

It’s this all-around effort that makes Bembry, also one of the Hawks’ top defenders, a potential candidate for Player of the Year in the league.

Bembry was a first-team selection last year when his scoring numbers were up, but St. Joe’s wins were down. This season he and senior teammates Isaiah Miles (17.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg) both have first-team and PoTY potential, St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli just hopes the duo doesn’t lose votes because of one another.

“I’ve never been successful campaigning. But as long as everyone who votes is looking at basketball, I’d put his game down against anyone in this league,” Martelli said of Bembry on a Monday morning conference call. “He’s one of four or five candidates, as is Isaiah Miles. I hope they don’t go to a caucus and split the vote.”