The 6’9” redshirt freshman forward Jaret Valencia has earned his second straight CAA Rookie of the Week honor. Valencia played for Legacy the School of Sport Sciences (LSS) in Spring, Texas. His career highs consist of 56 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 blocks in a single game while attending LSS.
He was a Texas 6A state champion as a junior and senior, as well as named a top-100 power forward by 247Sports. Valencia has achieved many great things while playing for LSS, and it only gets better at Monmouth University.
His Rookie of the Week honor was announced on Monday, Feb. 12. According to Monmouth’s athletic page, he helped lead Monmouth to a 2-0 week, averaging 15 points and 2.5 blocks that weekend. This season he has scored a total of 246 points and has averaged 8.5 points per game.
When you break it down and look at it by game, he blocked four shots and scored 13 points in the game against Campbell that took place on Feb. 22. He managed to get five rebounds in 34 minutes, helping the Hawks get ahead in a late comeback victory. When the Hawks faced Stony Brook, he shot a 7-10, which caused him to finish two points shy of a career-best with 17 points.
According to Monmouth’s Athletics page, “Valencia is the first Hawk to earn consecutive Rookie of the Week honors since Travis Taylor did so in the NEC in November 2008, and the fifth Hawk to earn CAA weekly honors this season, join Xander Rice, who has been player of the Week twice, and Abdi Bashir Jr., who was Rookie of the Week on November 27.”
The Monmouth Hawks were able to protect their home for 12 straight games, a total of three months, after defeating North Carolina A&T in their last home game of the season. Valencia was one of the leading scorers along with Rice and Klemen Vuga, all scoring 12 points.
