Cam Fails named to Bevo Francis Award top 100 watch list

The award recipient will be honored on May 11

 Hanover men's basketball senior Cam Fails (Cincinnati, Ohio) has been placed on the top 100 watch list for the fourth annual Bevo Francis award, which has been handed out by Small College Basketball since 2016.

The Bevo Francis award is given to the top men's basketball player from NCAA Divisions II & III, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Divisions I & II, the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Overall, the initial list of 100 nominees is picked from approximately 1,200 institutions. The three previous winners have come from NCAA Division II and the NAIA.

Fails has continued his stellar collegiate career during his final campaign, averaging career highs in scoring, 21.1 points per game, and rebounding, 4.5 per contest. The senior is also nearing career-best mark in assists (3.5) and steals (1.7) per game.

For his career, Fails has 1,511 points, which places him 12th on Hanover's all-time scoring list, a program that dates back over 125 years. With 16 additional points, the Cincinnati, Ohio native will crack the top 10 on the program's scoring list. He also ranks 23rd among active career scoring leaders in NCAA Division III.

Fails has tallied 18-plus points in 14 straight games, a span that includes a pair of 30-plus point performances. The guard recorded 32 points in a win at Whittier (Calif.) back in mid-December, which tied a career high and helped earn him his second Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week award this winter.

A 2017-18 D3hoops.com All-American and HCAC Player of the Year, Fails was honored with a pair of preseason All-American accolades this season by D3hoops and Street & Smith's Basketball Yearbook. The senior also represented the United States this past summer during the D3-Brazil Tour, hosted by USA Sports Tours & Events.

Bevo Francis, whom the award is named after, played at the University of Rio Grande (Ohio) back in 1952-53 and 1953-54. With the school on the verge of bankruptcy prior to his arrival, Francis, who was one of the world's most popular basketball players, led the then-Redmen to a 39-0 mark in his first season. Averaging 50.1 points per game, including a 116-point performance against Ashland College (Ky.), Francis helped lead the school to a better financial situation.

The 2019 Bevo Francis award watchlist will continue to shrink in size throughout the winter months. On February 15, the list will be cut to 50 players and a month later the list will be down to 25. Small College Basketball will then announce the finalists with a video release on April 6 and then declare its winner on April 8. The award recipient will be honored on May 11, during the Small College Basketball National Awards Show in conjunction with the SCB Alumni Association's Celebration of the Game event in Kansas City, Mo., at the downtown Crowne Plaza.