Links: Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Sophomore
Juvaris Hayes of the Merrimack College men's basketball program was selected to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List on Thursday morning, which is awarded to the top small college basketball player nationwide spanning NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA.
Hayes' stellar sophomore campaign continued on Wednesday night with a 24-point, seven-steal performance in a Merrimack victory at Stonehill. He started the week with the national lead in assists per game and total steals, and ranked second in total assists and steals per game. He leads the Warriors in points (18.7), rebounds (6.2), assists (8.0) and steals (3.7) per game while the Paterson native has set new career highs in total points (487) and total steals (100) while boasting over 200 assists (207) and 150 rebounds (162) through 26 games.
With seven steals on Wednesday at Stonehill, Hayes reached the century mark in thefts to become just the third student-athlete in Northeast-10 Conference history with at least 100 steals in a single season. The Preseason All-American needs 15 more to set a new conference record, which would also put him among the top-15 totals all-time in Division II.
The 50 players on the Watch List are selected from a group of over 1,100 schools from the affiliations listed above. The Bevo Francis Award committee selects the group based on criteria of individual statistics, previous awards, milestones and team success.
The list will be narrowed down to 25 players in a Watch List published on March 15. The finalists will then be announced in a highlight video that will be released on March 31.
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