FOREST, Va. – Anchoring the top defensive performance of the season by the Guilford College men's basketball team Rival Axselle (Mechanicsville, Va.) was the fifth, and final starter, Quaker recognized by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) this season, earning ODAC Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending on January 26^th, as announced by the conference offices on Monday afternoon.

The senior racked up a double-double on Wednesday evening as a part of a week during which he netted 17 total points on .400 (6-15) shooting and .625 (5-8) at the line, adding 14 rebounds, six offensive, a pair of blocks, and six steals in his award-winning week. Axselle put together a superb showing to open the week against Averett, making 5-of-11 with 13 points in addition to 10 rebounds, four offensive, in a runaway win over the Cougars. Axsellle had a pair of steals and was a key member of Guilford's best defensive outing of the year. The Quakers forced 31 turnovers, by-far the most AU has committed in a game this season, while restricting the Cougars to a season-low .297 field goal percentage and 57 points, their second-lowest output of the year as both of those marks were the lowest GC has permitted this season. While the Guilford defense took a step back against Shenandoah, Axselle did his part, matching his career-high for steals with four in the game while adding a tandem of blocks. He only mustered four points and four rebounds in the game, with two of his boards coming on the offensive glass.

Overall, this season, Axselle has been a key contributor to the Quakers, averaging 10 points in addition to a team-leading 5.7 rebounds. His 26 steals are a strong total, but gets buried among GC's stellar individual totals though the interior presence he has been able to provide has been invaluable, racking up half of GC's blocks himself with 18 at an average of 1.08 per game, marks that rank third in the ODAC and 158^th and 172^nd respectively nationally.

The entire Quakers starting-five has now been recognized by the ODAC this season, with Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) getting recognized for the week ending on November 17^th, Kody Clayton (Cary, N.C.) on December 8^th, Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) on January 5^th and finally Braylen Salters (Cleveland, Ohio) a week ago. Clayton and Edwards have joined Axselle in receiving defensive recognition. Already featuring the most different honorees that GC's men's basketball program has featured in a single season, they have now matched the program-record for ODAC weekly honors accrued as a collective in a year with five, matching their number of honors received as a team in both 2007-08 and 2008-09.

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