Millsaps College senior guard Blake Martinez, a 2006 Mandeville High graduate, was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Player of the Week for games played Feb. 15-21.

Martinez averaged 28.0 points per game in a weekend sweep of Colorado College and Austin College propelling the Majors into the SCAC playoffs.

He tied a career-high with 29 points in Friday night’s 64-51 home victory against the Colorado College Tigers. He followed that up by scoring 25 of his 27 points in the second-half in Sunday’s 60-56 come-from-behind victory over the top-seeded Austin College Roos at The Hangar Dome to secure the Majors’ spot in the SCAC Tournament field.

Millsaps’ College senior guard Blake Martinez is pictured releasing a successful three-pointer with 15 seconds left to give the Majors a 56-53 lead in Sunday’s game against Austin College. Matinez finished the game with 27 points including going 11-of-11 from the free throw line. The regular season ending victory gave the Majors a spot in the Southern Athletic Collegiate Conference Tournament, which begins today being hosted by Millsaps. (Photo by Frank Ezelle)

Millsaps’ season (12-13) 8-8 in conference play continues today as the Majors square off with the No. 1 seed from the East Division Centre College in the opening game of the 2010 SCAC Tournament. Millsaps is hosting this year’s tourney.

Sunday’s game against Austin College was tied 53-53 with 37 seconds to play. Following a timeout, Martinez got the ball moving off a screen and connected on a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to give the Majors a three-point lead. Martinez carried his club down the stretch clicking on four free throws in the final four seconds to cap off the conference playoff sealing victory. Martinez was perfect from the line sinking all 11 of his charity tosses.

A key part in the game came when Martinez was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with just under six minutes to go. After the foul, the player whistled on the play, was assessed a technical foul for arguing the referees’ call. Martinez stepped to the line and calmly sank all five freebies. The clutch shooting gave the Majors a 46-44 lead, their first advantage since the game’s opening basket.

For the weekend, Martinez shot 47 percent from the field (18-of-38) and 42 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-21) while going 11-for-12 from the free-throw line.

Martinez, the Majors’ long-range sharpshooter, topped his club averaging 15.6 points per game scoring a total of 375 points. He connected on 120-of-328 two-point attempts (36.6 percent) and canned 81-of-242 (33.5 percent). He drained 54-of-69 free throw attempts (78.3 percent).

Blake, a finance major, is the son of Javier and Cindy Martinez of Madisonville.