BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (Jan. 15, 2017) – For the second consecutive season, Oklahoma Christian's John Moon is on the watch list for a prestigious national award.

The organization Small College Basketball listed Moon on Sunday as one of 100 players under consideration for the Bevo Francis Award, which is presented to the player who has had the finest overall season who competes in NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA or NCCAA.

Moon, a 7-0 senior center from Crescent, is the only Heartland Conference player and one of only four players from Oklahoma schools on the award's watch list.

This season, Moon is averaging 15.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game for the Eagles. He ranks sixth, third and first in the Heartland in those respective statistical categories after leading the league in all three last season. He set the league record for career blocked shots last season (he now has 201) and is fifth all-time in the Heartland in scoring with 1,646 points.

"I'm proud of John and of all the work he puts forth on and off the court to represent OC and himself," OC coach Cory Cole said. "He's a special young man that continues to get better each day."

Last season, Moon earned honorable mention on two Division II All-America lists and was a first-team Academic All-America selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), an award that recognizes excellence in both athletics and academics.

Small College Basketball Founder John McCarthy said it's a major challenge to narrow the Bevo Francis Award watch list to 100 players.

"Clearly, this is a very elite group of players that are each in the midst of an outstanding season," McCarthy said. "It's incredibly difficult to come up with a list of 100 players for the Bevo Francis Award. There are a tremendous amount of players that are having outstanding seasons, yet when you try to choose 100 players from about 1,100 to 1,200 teams, it's a daunting task. 

"Our committee has spent a good deal of time providing a lot of feedback and I am grateful to have so many credible coaches that are engaged in this process."

He said the criteria for the Bevo Francis Award include individual achievements, statistics, awards, milestones and team success.

"The success of the team was very important to Bevo; as such, while the Bevo Francis Award is an individual award, team success is an important component," McCarthy said. "As we move forward in the process, personal character will be researched and factored into the equation." 
 
The 19 members of the Bevo Francis Award committee include university presidents, coaches and sports information directors from small colleges around the U.S.

The committee took into consideration individual statistics, previous awards, milestones and team success while preparing the 100-player watch list. The list will be narrowed to 50 on Feb. 15 and 25 on March 15. The finalists will be announced in a highlight video that will be released on April 1, with the winner announced on April 3.

The award is named for Bevo Francis, who starred at Rio Grande (Ohio) from 1952-54. During his junior season, he led his team to a 39-0 record, scoring 1,954 points and averaging 50.1 points per game. In one game against Ashland (Ky.), he scored 116 points.