Clarksville, TN – After leading Austin Peay State University’s basketball team to a 71-67 home win against Ohio on December 22nd, graduate student DeMarcus Sharp earned his third Atlantic Sun Conference Newcomer of the Week honor, the league announced Wednesday.
Sharp scored a game-high 21 points in the Governors’ win against the Bobcats, his sixth 20-point performance throughout nonconference play and ninth time pacing APSU in the scoring column. The Columbia, Missouri native’s four assists also led the Govs in the category for the 12th time through 14 games.
Sharp helped secure the APSU Govs’ first win against a Mid-American Conference opponent since 2017 after scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting with five free throws across the final 20 minutes. The win also improved the Govs to 7-7 overall and 5-1 on their home court, Gary Mathews Court at F&M Bank Arena.
Sharp is the first player in the ASUN this season to be named the ASUN Newcomer of the Week three times, and his three weekly honors in total tie him with Jacksonville’s Robert McCray, who is a two-time ASUN Newcomer of the Week and one-time ASUN Player of the Week recipient, for the most weekly honors by a conference affiliate. He also is the first student-athlete to receive multiple weekly honors in the Governors’ ASUN Era and the first to receive at least three conference honors since Elijah Hutchins-Everett was tabbed a four-time Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week during the 2021-22 season.
A 2022-23 Lou Henson Award finalist, Sharp currently ranks in the top 50 nationally in eight different categories including field goals made (109, first) and attempted (255, first), steals (35, fifth), minutes per game (37:05, 10th), points (257, 12th), assists (68, 28th), double-doubles (four, 41st), and defensive rebounds per game (6.5, 42nd).
Sharp and the Governors close nonconference play with a Saturday 6:00pm game against No. 19 Memphis in the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Governors look to claim the program’s second-ever win against a ranked opponent and first since the 1987 NCAA Tournament.
