Northern Kentucky University’s Dennis Gagai (Ironton, Ohio) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. Gagai, a freshman forward for the Norse, came off the bench to lead his team to wins over visiting Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan over the weekend.

In Northern Kentucky’s 78-62 win over Southern Indiana on Thursday, Gagai tallied a game-high 29 points. He finished the contest 11-for-12 (.917) from the field and set a new Northern Kentucky school-record for three-point shooting efficiency by canning 7-of-8 attempts in the game. The 87.5 percent effort from behind the line eclipsed the previous record of 77.7 percent. Gagai also had four rebounds and a steal in the win over the Eagles.

Gagai returned in Saturday’s 69-62 win over visiting Kentucky Wesleyan to post a team-high 15 points. He added two rebounds, a steal and finished 5-for-10 from the field. Gagai also nailed three three-point field goals in the victory.

On the week, Gagai averaged 22 points and three rebounds per game. He shot a blistering 16-for-22 (.727) from the field and converted 10-of-16 (.625) three-point field goals.

Gagai is averaging a team-best 13.4 points per game this season and has led the Norse in scoring in each of the past three games. He leads the league in three-point field goal percentage at 56.5 percent.

Northern Kentucky has won four straight games and is 13-2 overall and 7-1 in league play. The Norse are in sole possession of first-place in the GLVC East Division.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Drury’s Collins Harris, Kentucky Wesleyan’s T.J.Smith, Lewis’ Stephan Bolt, Missouri-St. Louis’ Sky Frazier, Rockhurst’s John Torson, UIndy’s DeAndre Brock and UW-Parkside’s Dave Keane.