ATLANTIC CITY, March 10 -Senior center Dokun Akingbade has been known as a somewhat shy, almost sheepish player during his five-year stint at GW. However, over the course of the season, Akingbade has shown signs of an inner-intensity, culminating in Saturday’s performance.
With forward Rob Diggs out much of the game with a broken nose and forward Regis Koundjia, the Maryland native shouldered the load of Rhode Island’s frontcourt players, scoring a career-high 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
“I knew I was just going to have to carry the team and get every rebound I possibly could to get the win,” Akingbade said.
As he did during the first GW’s first game of the Atlantic 10 tournament, Akingbade played with a veritable mean streak Saturday. After playing just 14 minutes in GW’s win against St. Louis Friday, GW head coach Karl Hobbs said Akingbade had extra energy to burn Saturday, and it showed. During a brief skirmish at the end of the first half, Akingbade came to the defense of Koundjia. Shyness was no where to be found.
“We fed off of that, we used that as motivation,” Akingbade said of the scuffle. “They weren’t going to back down, so we weren’t going to back down.”
A former walk-on, Akingbade red-shirted last year because last year’s team was frontcourt-heavy and Akingbade was not ready to contribute. The year off paid dividends for both player and team.
“Coach Hobbs told me if I work hard it will pay off in the end,” Akingbade said. “This is the end and it paid off.”
Hobbs referred to Akingbade as an example of a GW player: someone who was not heavily recruited out of high school, but is a hard worker with potential. Not having a big time program’s resources and name makes his job as coach more important.
“A guy like Dokun represents what this program about,” Hobbs said. “We don’t get the All-Americans, we don’t get the best players. When I was at Connecticut I could recruit a Caron Butler, I could get a Richard Hamilton, but (at GW) I have to go and get these Dokun Akingbade guys and Mike Hall guys and develop them and have them become players.”
Rice named MVP during hard time
Junior guard Maureece Rice was named most outstanding player of the tournament. Rice averaged 16.7 points over the three games, including 12 in the championship game. Given the recent death of his grandmother after a long illness, Hobbs said Rice’s performance’s was special.
“Maureece was outstanding all weekend,” Hobbs said. “I think it speaks a lot to his character, the way he played. I’m extremely happy he did get with the MVP because with all he’s gone through, he’s able to enjoy these next few days.
