KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Small College Basketball has narrowed down its Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award of 2019 to 25 of the finest men’s basketball players in the country who compete in the affiliations of NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA and NCCAA.
Northwest Missouri State senior Joey Witthus (Chanhassan, Minnesota) and redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins (Manhattan, Kansas) have both made the list on the cut down to the top 25 players.
Witthus, the MIAA player of the year and most outstanding player at the MIAA tournament, is averaging a team-best 20.9 points per game and shooting 50.5 percent from the field. Witthus has buried an-MIAA high 100 three-pointers, and he is shooting 45.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Witthus also leads Northwest in free throws made (133) and his shooting 84.2 percent from the free throw line.
Hudgins, the MIAA freshman of the year, is scoring 18.7 points per game and handing out 5.3 assists per game. Hudgins is shooting 53.7 percent from the field, including 48.0 percent from three-point range. Hudgins is making 81.8 percent of his free throws and tied the all-time MIAA record for consecutive free throws made at 36. Hudgins has scored 20 or more points 17 times this season. He has set the Northwest and MIAA freshman scoring record with 599 points.
This marks the fourth season of the Bevo Francis Award, as the award was previously given to Dominez Burnett of Davenport (Mich.) in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State in 2017 and Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial last season.
“On behalf of our National Awards Committee, the University of Rio Grande and Sheward Fulks Insurance, I congratulate the 25 players that have made the Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award.
“We have done a tremendous amount of research to create this very elite list. There are so many worthy candidates, and this is an extremely challenging process. This list consists of players that have been fantastic this season, have helped led their respective teams to a high level of success and fit the criteria for the Bevo Francis Award very well. Sincerely, we congratulate each and every one of them!”
Members of the Bevo Francis Award committee include the following coaches: Tobin Anderson – St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.), Gerald Holmes – Bloomfield (N.J.), Gary Stewart – Stevenson (Md.), Arlen Galloway – Wentworth (Mass.), Chris Briggs – Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen – Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Klint Pleasant – Rochester (Mich.), Ryan Kane – Ripon (Wisc.), Mark Berokoff – Hillsdale Baptist (Okla.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Rhett Soliday – Vanguard (Calif.), Sam Hargraves – Alma (Mich.) and Ryan Looney – Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.).
The committee chose this elite group from over 1,100 colleges and universities and took into consideration individual statistics, previous awards, milestones and team success.
The list will next be narrowed down to the finalists that will be announced in a highlight video on April 6.
The 2019 Bevo Francis Award winner will be announced on April 8. The award will be presented to the winner on May 11 at the SCB National Awards Show in conjunction with the SCB Alumni Association’s Celebration of the Game event at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Small College Basketball is very grateful to the University of Rio Grande and Sheward-Fulks Insurance for their sponsorship and support of the Bevo Francis award.
— Northwest Athletics —