Drake University senior Nick Norton (Blooimington, Ill.) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Tuesday, Dec. 26.  The honor is Norton's third Newcomer of the Week award this season.
 
Norton was named the league's top newcomer of the week after earning MVP honors at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic where he led the Bulldogs to the tournament title with a pair of wins over New Mexico State and San Diego.
 
In the double-overtime win against San Diego in the tournament title game, he he scored a career-high 31 points with seven assists, five three-pointers and a 10-of-10 showing from the free-throw line. Twenty one of his 31 points came in the overtime periods and 14 in the second overtime period alone in which he scored 14 of the team's 17 points to defeat USD. A day earlier against New Mexico State, he had six assists and 11 points.
 
He began the week with performances of 13 points and 15 points in wins over Rider and SIUE, respectively and finished the week averaging 17.5 points and 6.0 assists per game while shooting .490 from the field.
 
Norton and the Bulldogs return to competition this weekend when they host McKendree in the team's final non-conference game. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Knapp Center.