ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: JON BECK

Jon Beck

School: Scott City

Sport: Basketball

Coach: Derek McCord

Week Report: Beck scored 44 points in an overtime game against Scott City's conference rival Kelly. The 6-foot senior guard, who earned Class 2A all-state honors last year and earlier this season signed to play at Arkansas State, drained eight 3-pointers and scored eight of his team's 11 points in overtime. With the win, the Rams wrapped up the Scott-Mississippi County Conference championship. Beck also scored a game-high 19 points in an 83-39 blowout of Bloomfield.

Season Report: Beck averages 25.8 points per game and was recently nominated as a McDonald's all-American. He has led the Rams to a 22-2 record and has lost just 14 games in his four years as a varsity player. Earlier this year, Beck was named MVP of the I-55 Classic and named to the all-University High Christmas Tournament team. The Rams have won 13 straight games. Beck, who has scored 1,734 career points and 230 3-pointers, has earned a scholarship to play basketball at Arkansas State University.

Coach's comments: "It was one of the most incredible individual performances I've ever seen as a high school basketball coach," McCord said of Beck's outbreak against Kelly. "He's a tremendous defender, he can take people off the dribble, he's a premier 3-point shooter and he's a leader for us. He leads by diving for loose balls and taking charges. The most important thing is he's a great kid and a lot of fun to coach. It's players like Jon that make coaching a great profession.