Dec. 13, 2010

Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham University senior guard Brenton Butler (Norcross, Ga./Norcross) was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week it was announced by the conference office today. The honor is the first weekly award of his career and the first for a Fordham player this year.

In a pair of games on the week Butler averaged 21.5 points, shooting 53.8% from the field (14-26) and 50.0% from behind the arc (6-12), as the Rams won two games against local rivals.

On Wednesday the Rams defeated Manhattan in the annual Battle of the Bronx, 73-59, as Butler led all scorers with 21 points, shooting 6-for-12 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free throw line while also dishing out four assists. For his exploits, Butler received the Mike Cohen Award following the game as the Fordham-Manhattan game MVP. It was the second time he won the award, also collecting the trophy as a freshman in 2006.

Butler then led the Rams to an 84-81 victory over St. John's in the Rose Hill Gym on Saturday night, scoring a team-high 22 points, shooting 8-for-15 from the field and 5-for-9 from three-point range, while adding three assists. Leading by one point with 14 seconds left, Butler nailed a jumper that put Fordham up three, 84-81. What made the game been more remarkable was that Butler played the entire second half with four fouls, picking up all four in the first half.

On the year, Butler, who has scored at least 20 points in each of the past three games, leads the Rams and is ranked seventh in the Atlantic 10 with a 16.9 ppg scoring average. He also leads the squad and is ranked fifth in the conference in assists per game (4.6) and leads the team in free throw shooting, hitting 389 of his 48 charity shots (79.2%), tenth best in the A-10.

Over his career, Butler has scored 1,265 points, placing him in 14th on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 13 points behind David Maxwell (1979-83) for 13th place. He also is fifth on the school's three-pointers made career list with 189.

The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, December 22nd, as they host the Kennesaw State University Owls in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 PM. The game can be heard live on WFUV (90.7 FM) and www.wfuv.org.