Piedmont's Lanier honored as USA South Rookie of the Week

For the second week in a row a Piedmont College men's basketball player has been honored by the USA South as the Rookie of the Week, as Marquise Lanier took home the honor for the first time. Lanier averaged over 15 points and 3 rebounds per game during the Lions' perfect 2-0 week in conference.<br /> <br /> In the Lions' first game of the week on Friday against Greensboro, Lanier was the star of the show as he had a career best night knocking down a team-high 19 points in just 21 minutes of playing time off the bench. Ten of those points came from the charity stripe where he hit 66 percent including going to the line four times in the final 1:31 of the game.<br /> <br /> Against Methodist, Lanier again was a solid threat at the line as he was 8-of-12 on free throws for a total of 12 points against the Monarchs. Lanier also had five rebounds and one of the Lions' five steals in the game in his 22 minutes.<br /> <br /> The freshman guard from Grayson is the only rookie that has seen action in all 14 games this season. Lanier has not made any starts during his career but has played over 15 minutes six times this season.<br /> <br /> This is the first time Lanier has earned an honor from the USA South and becomes the second player on the Lions' men's basketball team to be honored this season for Piedmont. Justin Vallejo earned Rookie and Player of the Week last week and Rookie of the Week earlier in the season.<br /> <br /> The Lions will be back in action Friday night on the road at Ferrum College with tipoff at 5:30 p.m. Ferrum is currently 1-4 in the league and 6-10 overall while the Lions sit at 3-1 and 8-6 overall which is good for second in the conference standings.