KINGSPORT, Tenn. – For the first time in the 2024-25 season, the No. 6 Freed-Hardeman University Lions eclipsed the century mark in a 106-68 rout of the Reinhardt (Ga.) University Eagles to close out The Show 2024.

The Lions (11-1) flooded the paint to start the matchup with Jayson Nixon, Makai Vassell, and Geraldo Lane all hitting jumpers to start the game 6-0. In a two-minute span, Peyton Law managed six points of his own to set FHU’s lead at 14-6 with 15:35 remaining in the opening half. Adding even more separation, the Lions went on a nine-point run with Phil Horton’s free throws putting the Lions on top 23-8 with 11:37 before intermission. Late in the half, the Eagles would begin to find their stroke, eventually pulling within two possessions before Ryley McClaran’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer – the only of the half for FHU – giving the Lions a 46-35 halftime lead.

Beginning the second frame the same way the ended the first, the Lions kept momentum going with McClaran scoring five points in the first two minutes. Reinhardt (5-5) strung together a good run by out-scoring Freed-Hardeman 11-2 with a steal and a score at 11:37 making the FHU lead 66-52. Making offensive waves of their own, the Lions would go on three different 7-0 runs down the stretch with Brian Carter’s layup at 1:58 giving the Lions triple digits. Carter knocked down a triple for FHU’s final points in the 106-68 victory.

The Lions dominated nearly every statistical category, shooting 57% to Reinhardt’s 37% while out-rebounding the Eagles 48-25.

Peyton Law continued his white-hot start of the season by dropping 26 points to continue his streak of 20+ point games. Now with four straight 20+ point games, Law has met the mark eight times in 12 games his season.

Joining Law with double-figures were Phil Horton and Makai Vassell – both tallying 15 points. Brian Carter netted 11 points wile Blake Dean and Ryley McClaran each connected for 10. Law had his third double-double of the season with a game-high 11 rebounds while Horton led with four steals.

The Lions now take a well-deserved break before returning to Henderson to face Tougaloo (Miss.) College on December 10 at 6 p.m.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Awards Committee and Small College Basketball are extremely excited to announce the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List for the 2023-24 season. Once again this year, the Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. John McCarthy spoke about this years Top 100 list.

Congratulations to all of the 100 players on the Bevo Francis Award Watch List,” McCarthy said. “This is a very elite list of players, as there are only 100 players listed out of approximately 13,000 – 16,000 players that are playing at the various levels of small college basketball. While the Bevo Francis Award is ultimately an individual award, team success is a big component, so these players have helped their teams to tremendous success thus far this season.”

The Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.

2024 marks the eighth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. In 2023, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern was named the winner of the Bevo Francis Award. The award was not presented during the 2021 season. John McCarthy added this about the Bevo Francis Award:

“The Bevo Francis Award is the most prestigious award that is given to a player that has the finest overall season, based on our criteria, in a single season,” McCarthy said. “Importantly, I am very grateful to our National Awards Committee for their tremendous insight and information.”

On February 15, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players. One month later on March 15, the Top 25 players will be announced. The finalists and Bevo Francis Award winner announcement release date is TBD. More information will be available in the coming months.

The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart – Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs – Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen – Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Mark Berokoff – Oklahoma City, Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Sam Hargraves – Olivet (Mich.), Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Chase Tiechmann – Florida College, Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa (Kan.), Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O’Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Ben Thompson – Emory & Henry, Justin Leslie – Midwestern State, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma Nazarene.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of Fort Lauderdale falls in a midweek matchup to Edward Waters, 78-73, on Tuesday evening inside the James Weldon Johnson Auxiliary Gym.

Kemari Brown paced the Eagles with 20 points, while Benez Woodard scored 16, Jongkor Unguec had 10 and Andre Anderson, Keysean Smith and Trandon Smith scored six points.

Smith grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, Riley grabbed six and Brown, T. Smith, Unguec pulled down five rebounds.

Andre Anderson would have a team-high six assists, with Carl Bigord, Riley and Unguec had one.

Smith blocked three Tiger shots. Delgado collected three steals and Anderson, Brown and Unguec stole one.

The game would start off back-and-forth as both teams were scoring at will early and often. Edward Waters would get ahead by as much as five over the first 10 minutes of play. UFTL would climb back and tie the game at 19-19 with 10:08 to play.

The teams would lockdown each other for the next five minutes, at the 5:31 mark, the teams were tied again at 26-26.

The Eagles would close the half on an 11-2 run, to take a 37-28 lead into the intermission.

EWU came out of the break on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 39-37 at the 16:24 mark.

Over the next 6:24, both teams scored 11 points, with the Maroon-and-Gold held a 52-48 lead as the game turn to the final 10 minutes.

The Tigers would take over with a 19-3 run to take a 67-58 lead with five minutes left to play.

UFTL would close out the game with an 12-11 scoring advantage, but fell short as the final buzzer sounded in favor of EWU, 78-83

The Eagles will travel to Temple Terrace, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 19 to face Florida College at 4 p.m. inside the Conn Gymnasium.

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BELMONT, N.C. – King won the inaugural Conference Carolinas men’s basketball developmental championship, 99-89, over Barton at Belmont Abbey on Monday night.

The event, which is a unique championship opportunity for developmental teams within Conference Carolinas, consisted of a preliminary round at King and Barton on Jan. 31 with the winners of each preliminary round playing in the championship at Belmont Abbey.

King defeated Erskine 71-59 and Emmanuel 82-78 to reach the title game while Barton defeated Belmont Abbey (84-59), Francis Marion (85-65) and Mount Olive (69-57) to reach the championship.

The Bulldogs took an early lead in the first half, 14-7, and led until King took a 24-23 lead. Barton responded by building the lead back to six, 43-37 with 3:46 to play in the half. However, the Tornado closed the half on a 12-6 run to tie the score at 49 at the break. There were 10 ties and 15 lead changes in the opening period as each team shot better than 50 percent from the field and 3-point range while King held a slight 12-11 advantage on the boards.

It was a back-and-forth second half that saw several more lead changes and ties, before a Henry Okoye layup for the Tornado gave the visitors a 72-71 lead that they never relinquished. The layup sparked a 12-2 run for King as they pushed the lead to a game-high nine points, 82-73. An Isaiah Williams three-pointer broke the run and sparked an 8-0 rally for the Bulldogs to cut the margin to one, 82-81, but back-to-back layups by Zach Grodziki pushed the lead back to five for King and they never trailed again in the win.

Grodziki led all scorers with 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Tornado while Amarius Beasley added 18 points and grabbed five rounds with four assists. Dami Farinloye finished with 13 points with four rebounds and four assists.

Barton had three players finish with 20-plus points led by Williams with 23.

Farinloye was named tournament Most Valuable Player.

More information can be found on the tournament webpage here.

Earlier this fall Conference Carolinas announced that a developmental championship will be held in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s basketball and baseball. The developmental teams will be composed of student-athletes that have either not competed at the varsity level in 2021-22 or have competed sparingly at the varsity level by the time of the championship.

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ATLANTA, Ga. – The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) has announced its men’s and women’s basketball Players of the Week.

Women’s Basketball

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Bria Gibbs, Savannah State
Center  |  Junior  |  Greensboro, N.C.

Bria Gibbs had another fantastic week, scoring double figures in two wins for Savannah State. Against Spring Hill, Gibbs recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and 17 points. Against Fort Valley State on Saturday, Gibbs scored 13 points. The Lady Tigers lead the SIAC at 13-0, 7-0 and are one of three undefeated teams in the nation.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK– Ta’Quashia Lumpkin, Savannah State
Forward  |  Freshman  |  Beaufort, S.C.

In her first season playing for Savannah State Ta’Quasia Lampkin is quickly becoming key to their victories. In a win against Fort Valley State, Lampkin recorded her first double-double with a season-high 22 points and 16 rebounds. She also led in steals with 7. She leads the team in steals this season with 36 and is second on the team in blocks with 12. The Lady Tigers lead the SIAC at 13-0, 7-0 and are one of three undefeated teams in the nation.

Men’s Basketball

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Deshawn Millington, Tuskegee
Guard |  Senior   |  Brooklyn, N.Y.

In two games last week, Tuskegee’s Deshawn Millington led the Golden Tigers to two wins over Edward Waters and Lane. Millington, a senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., had a season-high 23 points against Edward Waters while adding four assists, four steals, and two rebounds. Against Lane, Millington led with 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK– Devin Booker, Tuskegee
Guard   |  Junior  |  Chicago, Ill.

Booker is the leading scorer for the Golden Tigers in two contests this week.

Against Edward Waters, Booker posted five points and three rebounds. Against Lane, the junior guard collected 16 points and six rebounds. He is averaging 12.9 points per game and 1.7 rebounds per game in an average of 30.8 minutes per contest with 11 starts in 12 games played.

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The Peach Belt Conference named Wesley Simpson from Georgia College the Men’s Basketball Player of the Week on Jan. 17, 2022.

Simpson turned in a pair of double-doubles as the 24th-ranked Bobcats split a pair of games. The junior guard from DeLand, Fla., scored 21 with 10 rebounds in a win over USC Aiken and had 21 with 12 rebounds in a loss at North Georgia. He also added 4.0 assists per game and a steal.

Simpson is currently ninth in the PBC in scoring, 11th rebounding and field goal percentage and fifth in assists per game.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements.  This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.

Here is the Watch List of the Top 100 Players to be considered for the award:

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The Gulf South Conference announced its Men’s Basketball Player of the Week Awards Presented by TicketSmarter for the 2021-22 season. This week’s awards were for games played between Jan. 3-9.

Player of the Week: James Graham, F – Auburn Montgomery
Graham averaged 20.5 points and 10 rebounds over a pair of wins for Auburn Montgomery last week while shooting 57 percent (15-26) from the floor. The junior forward logged his third double-double of the season with a 13-point, 13-rebound performance while blocking five shots in an 83-81 triple overtime win at Christian Brothers on Thursday, Jan. 6. On the road at Union, Graham accounted for a game-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 4-for-5 from behind the arc. He also added seven rebounds a block, one steal and an assist in the Warhawks 78-73 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 8

Freshman of the Week: PJay Smith, G/F – Lee
Smith averagd 8.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists as Lee went 2-0 in GSC competition this week. In a 83-65 road win over Shorter, the freshman dropped four points, dished out three assists and pulled down a rebound in 16 minutes of action. On Jan. 8, he had 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-for-2 from behind the arc, while adding five rebounds and two assists as the Flames beat West Alabama, 66-63.

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Gaither averaged 31 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games last week, including 37 in a win over Clayton State. The senior guard from Alexandria, Va., scored 25 with nine boards to begin the week against No. 25 Flagler. He came back to hit 7-of-14 from the field including 4-for-5 three-pointers against Clayton State. He also hit 19 of 20 free throws.

The 37 points is the most scored in a conference game in the PBC so far this season and second-most in all games. His 19-for-20 effort at the line is also the most makes and attempts in the PBC in all games this season. Gaither is currently second in the PBC in scoring and third in free-throw percentage.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Southeastern University junior Riley Minix was selected as the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Player of the Week for his work in a win over No. 1 Saint Francis on Saturday.

The Vero Beach native had a game-high 29 points and hauled in eight rebounds in a 74-72 win over the Cougars Saturday afternoon. Minix connected on a pair of free throws with four seconds left to put the Fire on top and scored the final seven points of the game for the Fire in the win.

Minix is currently 15^th in the NAIA in scoring at 21.5 points per game and is averaging 33 points per 40 minutes which is third nationally. Additionally, he is averaging 9.9 rebounds per game and is 58% from the field.

The Fire take on 13^th-ranked Grace this afternoon at 4 p.m. at The Furnace.

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