Steele averaged 19.0 points per game and led Monmouth to its first two victories of the season to earn this week’s Choice Hotels/NEC Player of the Week award. The junior guard shot the lights out in games against Navy and Fordham, accumulating 38 points while connecting on 62% of his shots from the floor and 67% beyond the arc. Against Navy on Tuesday, Steele recorded his fourth-career 20-point game with exactly that and proved to be clutch in the end, going 4 for 4 from the line in the final 65 seconds to keep the Hawks out in front and seal a 69-67 victory, their first of the season. In addition to that 4-for-4 mark from the free-throw line, Steele went 6 of 10 from the field and buried 4 of 6 treys taken. The former Oak Hill (VA) product then continued to pace MU on Saturday, adding a team-high 18 points while contributing six assists, five boards and a steal in a 15-point win over the Rams, 80-65. With his two-game effort, Steele increased his team-leading PPG game average to 11.3 for the season and also boosted his assist total to 33, a figure that ranks first on the Hawks’ squad.