Sophomore power forward Alnisa Hernaiz (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) of the women’s basketball team and sophomore point guard Dakwan Simmons (Newark, NJ/University) of the men’s basketball team are the New Jersey City University Men’s and Women’s Athletes of the Week for the period of December 3-9, 2012. Simmons is a first-time winner.
Dakwan Simmons
Simmons, a first-year transfer from Berkeley College (NJ), averaged 10.0 points while shooting a sizzling 66.7 percent from the field (10-15) in three games off the bench. In 50 reserve minutes, he tallied 30 points, four rebounds, four steals, three assists and one block while shooting 3-of-5 from three-point distance (.600) and .583 from the line (7-12).
On December 3 in a 60-50 road upset of #21 New York University—a win that snapped the Violets’ 24-game home court non-conference winning streak—he supplied seven points on 3-of-6 shooting and added three assists in 22 minutes. Two days later he collected seven points (3-5 FG) in 12 minutes in a 77-58 New Jersey Athletic Conference loss at unbeaten Richard Stockton College.
His best game was on December 8. In a 55-48 home court loss to rival Kean University, Simmons more than doubled his first-year career high for NJCU, finishing with a game-high 16 points, making 4-of-4 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range and 6-of-8 foul shooting in 16 minutes. Trailing by 10 late in the game, Simmons attempted to single-handedly rally the Knights, drilling a three with 1:38 left, before converting a steal into a fast break basket with 1:08 to play, slicing the deficit to 50-45.
For the season, Simmons is averaging 5.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game in eight games (four starts), while shooting .455 from the floor (15-33), .429 from three-point distance (3-7) and .643 at the line (9-14). He has tallied 42 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals in 128 minutes of action.
