Northern Kentucky’s Leslie Malone (Atlanta, Ga.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. Malone, a senior forward for the Norse, guided his club to a key regional and conference win over visiting Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday.

In the 80-67 win over the Panthers, Malone scored a game-high 19 points on 7-for-13 (.538) shooting from the field. He also posted three rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal.

Malone scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half helping the Norse erase a 37-33 halftime deficit. In addition, Malone netted five points during an 18-7 spurt that turned a 55-54 lead into a 73-61 advantage with just under four minutes to play in the contest.

On the year, Malone is averaging 12.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He has upped his production to 13 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in conference play.

Northern Kentucky (19-4, 12-2 GLVC) ran its winning streak to 10 games with the win over the Panthers, the seventh-ranked team in the Midwest Region. The Norse are in first-place in the GLVC East Division standings and will host UW-Parkside and travel to Saint Joseph’s on Saturday. 

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Bellarmine’s Chartrael Hall, Drury’s Chris Ijames, Indianapolis’ Keith Radcliff, Lewis Brandon Dagans, Quincy’s Austin Chapital, Rockhurst’s Alden Smith, Southern Indiana’s Anthony Pimble and UW-Parkside’s LaVontay Fenderson.