Sherman Blanford has a short list of things he can’t do for the Eastern men’s basketball team.

But for the first time in the senior forward’s career, he won Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week.

“I just keep doing what I do: I rebound, I play hard and I get buckets,” Blanford said. “It’s nothing more than that.”

And Blanford did exactly those three things.

He averaged 29 points and 13 rebounds in two games last week while also shooting 60 percent from the field and a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line.

Blanford achieved all of this despite the Panthers posting a 0-2 record at Austin Peay and Murray State.

He began the week by recording career highs in points and rebound in a double-double performance with 32 points and 18 rebounds in an 88-83 loss to Austin Peay Thursday.

“I’m counting on him every single game,” Eastern coach Jay Spoonhour said. “Talk about a heck of a game for him.”

Blanford knew he had to step up in a game that had Eastern’s Reggie Smith on the bench for its entirety because the star point guard and leading scorer was out past curfew the night prior.

“I just knew I had to step up to another level with our point guard out,” Blanford said in a press release.

But such dominance wasn’t seen in just that one game for Blanford. He followed his career performance with 26 points and eight rebounds in a 72-60 loss to Murray State.

But such dominance from Blanford goes even further than just the past week.

He appears to effortlessly outdo himself with each week, each game for the Panthers.

In three of the last four games, Blanford has reset his career high in points with 26, 30 and finally 32 coming against the Governors.

He has also scored 20 or more points in the last five games, where he has averaged 26.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, and two blocks per game while maintaining a 61 percent shooting percentage from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line.

Blanford has climbed into the top-10 in scoring in the Ohio Valley Conference, where his 18.1 points per game ranks seventh, also where his 9.1 rebounds per game ranks third in the conference.

While leading one of the most miraculous personal stretches of an Eastern player in recent memory, Blanford simply sees his performance as doing his job.

“I’m just doing what I’m asked to do,” Blanford said. “Me being the only senior and a leader, I can’t make too many mistakes.”

But no matter how much the 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward denies his dominance, the history of the Eastern’s men’s basketball program will continue its argument — he is the first Panther to garner the weekly honor since Dec. 5, 2011 when Jeremy Granger was recipient.

Anthony Catezone can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcatezone@eiu.edu.