McKendree University junior guard David Franklin has been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week in men's basketball, it was announced by the league office Monday. 

Franklin averaged 27.5 points on 17-of-35 (.486) shooting and 8.5 rebounds while adding five assists and a steal to help McKendree to a GLVC split last week, which included an upset over No. 21 UW-Parkside.  He logged all but three of the 80 minutes played by the Bearcats.
 
In Thursday's 92-85 victory over the tri-East Division leader Rangers, who entered with the nation's fourth-best winning streak at 11 games, Franklin netted 33 points on 10-of-19 (.526) shooting, while grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing two assists.  He was 11-of-11 from the free-throw line as well.  The win marked the school's first over a ranked opponent since the Bearcats completed the transition to NCAA Division II membership in 2012-13.
 
On Saturday, Franklin scored 22 points on 7-of-16 (.438) shooting with six rebounds and three assists in the Bearcats 87-79 setback against Lewis.  He made all six of his freebies from the line to put him at a perfect 17-of-17 on the week.
 
Across the league, Franklin's averages ranked first in points (27.5) and free-throw shooting (1.000), third in rebounding (8.5) and fourth in minutes played (38.5), while his 33 points and 11 rebounds against UW-Parkside tied for the first and third-best outputs last week, respectively.

For the season, Franklin is averaging 20 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest. He is currently second in the GLVC in scoring and fifth in rebounding, and is one of just two players to be ranked in the top five in the league in each category. He also leads the Bearcats with 61 assists on the season.

The local O'Fallon, Illinois product is just the second McKendree player to be honored by the conference as the first came on Dec. 3, 2012 when John Steppe was recognized.