McGill's Thornhill named Quebec athlete of the week

MONTREAL  -  The Quebec Student Sports Federation has named McGill basketball player Matt Thornhill of Ile-Bizard, Que., and Université de Montréal swimmer Audrey Lacroix, -- as the De Facto Quebec university athletes of the week for the period ending, Jan. 17, 2010.

Thornhill, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard, scored 51 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while leading the Redmen basketball team to a pair of upset victories over the top two teams in the Quebec conference.

Despite playing with a facemask to protect a broken nose, the 22-year-old finance senior tallied 32 points in a 72-65 win over Laval last Friday. Two days later, he added 19 points, including the winning basket with 0.9 seconds left in a 60-59 come-from behind victory over UQAM.

Over the two games, he shot an impressive 50 per cent from the floor (18 of 36), making seven of 14 attempts from three-point range. He also was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and was credited with four assists and a steal.

Thornhill, a product of Dawson College, also became just the seventh player in McGill history to score 1,500 points in a career. He currently leads the QUBL in both scoring and rebounds, averaging 20.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game,

McGill athletes have now been selected eight times for the QSSF weekly award, split evenly between men and women. The 2009-10 honourees from McGill include:

Sept. 29  Alexandra Morin-Boucher (soccer)

Oct. 6      Mélissa Coré (golf)

Oct. 13    Simon Marcotte-Légaré (hockey)

Dec. 1     Francis Verreault-Paul (hockey)

Dec. 8     Francis Verreault-Paul (hockey)

Dec. 8     Vanessa Davidson (hockey)

Jan. 12   Cathy Chartrand (hockey)

Jan. 19   Matt Thornhill (basketball)