TOLEDO, Ohio – Senior forward
Nate Navigato has been named Mid-American Conference West Division Co-Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
Navigato's honor marks the second time he has earned the weekly accolade in his UT career and the fourth time a Rocket has received the award this season.
Navigato tallied a team-high 17.0 points per game to go along with 5.5 rebounds per game last week to lead UT to a pair of road wins and sole possession of first place in the MAC's West Division. Navigato also shot 56.5 percent from the field (13-of-23) and an impressive 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range.
In the Rockets' 66-63 win at Miami on Tuesday, Navigato poured in a team-high 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds and scored the game's final five points. With Toledo trailing 63-61, Navigato buried a three with 1:06 to play before sealing the game on a driving layup with 17.7 seconds remaining.
A Geneva, Ill. native, Navigato scored all 14 of his points in the second half in Toledo's 69-55 win at Northern Illinois on Saturday. He also came through in a key moment for a second straight game after the Huskies had trimmed the Rockets' 12-point halftime lead to 47-46 with 9:50 remaining. Navigato hit a three and then a jumper in the lane to push Toledo's lead to 52-46 and ignite a game-deciding 18-2 spurt.
Navigato ranks seventh in the nation with a 47.3 three-point field-goal percentage and is second in team scoring with 12.6 ppg.
Navigato and the Rockets (18-4, 6-3 MAC) host MAC East Division foe Akron (13-8, 5-3 MAC) on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Tip-off time for the contest is set for 7:00 p.m. in
Savage Arena with streaming available on ESPN-Plus.
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