Big men have played a prominent roles for the Sendai 89ers and Tokyo Apache this season.
On Tuesday, the bj-league recognized the recent accomplishments of 89ers forward Nick DeWitz and Apache center Nick Davis.
DeWitz received the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week award after leading the Eastern Conference's first-place club, which has a 28-12 record, to a series sweep of the Niigata Albirex BB.
The former Oregon State player had a 24-point (including 8-for-8 from the free-throw line), 10-rebound, four-assist performance in Sendai's 80-79 win on Sunday.
A day earlier, he put 27 points on the board and dished out seven assists. DeWitz is averaging 21.1 points per game for Sendai, which faces the Western Conference-leading Osaka Evessa (28-12) at Osaka Central Gymnasium this weekend.
Davis, meanwhile, earned the third-year league's March MVP award. Davis led Tokyo to an 8-2 record in the month as it solidified its playoff position.
At week's end, Tokyo (23-17) was tied for second in the East with Niigata. Davis, who's scoring 15.9 ppg, had double-digit scoring efforts in eight of 10 March games. His passing prowess from the high post and in the lane led to 33 assists.
Defensively, he remains one of the league's elite players, as evidenced by his 31 blocks and 15 steals in March.
Davis is the league's No. 3 rebounder (12.7 per game) and second-leading shot-blocker (3.1).