INDIANAPOLIS –Truman State University’s Mike Carlson has been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, as announced Monday by the league office. Carlson joins Southern Indiana's Aaron Nelson as the only two-time recipient of the weekly honor this season.
 
Carlson, a native of Superior, Wis., scored 40 points in the Bulldogs' final regular season game last Thursday (Feb. 27) night, helping guide Truman to an 89-85 victory against long-time rival Quincy (Ill.) in Pershing Arena. He hit 12-of-18 shots from the floor, including 6-of-8 from three-point range, while also connecting on 10-of-11 free throws in 35 minutes of action.
 
After scoring a dozen points in the first half, Carlson went off in the final 20 minutes – scoring 28 points on 8-of-9 shooting (4-of-4 three-point), with an 8-of-8 line from the charity stripe. He added two assists to help the Bulldogs recover from a five-point halftime deficit and score 55 points in the final frame.
 
Thursday's contest marked his second career 40-point scoring game, having logged a program-high 48 points against Missouri S&T in late January. It also gave him the first- and fourth-best scoring outputs in school history. Sunday's GLVC tournament game against Illinois Springfield was not counted towards this week's award, although Carlson added an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Prairie Stars.
 
Carlson previously earned the league's weekly honor on Jan. 20, 2014, with Monday's announcement marking the third player of the week award for the Bulldogs this season. Reed Mells was recognized for his play on Feb. 10, 2014.
 
For the season, Carlson averaged a team-high 21.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game – both top-10 marks in the GLVC. He started all 27 games and averaged 32.4 minutes per game while shooting 54 percent from the field.