Powell claims his fifth OVC newcomer award

Southeast Missouri State junior forward Leon Powell is making a monopoly of the Ohio Valley Conference newcomer of the week award.

Powell garnered his third consecutive such honor and fifth of the season Monday. He also has been OVC player of the week one time. Powell is the first OVC player to be newcomer of the week three straight times since the 2004-05 campaign.

Powell was recognized after averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds last week as Southeast won both its games at home, including an upset of defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Murray State that saw Powell post his sixth double-double with 19 points and 10 boards.

Powell added five blocks, two assists and one steal in the two contests while hitting 14 of 22 field-goal attempts (63.6 percent).

Powell, who missed all of last season with a knee injury after transferring from junior college, is the OVC's seventh-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder with averages of 14.7 points and eight boards per contest.

In addition, Powell leads the nation in field-goal percentage at 63.8. He also is third in the OVC in blocks (1.5 per game).

The Redhawks (9-19, 6-10) play their final two regular-season games this week on the road, at Tennessee State (12-15, 8-8) on Thursday and Austin Peay (17-12, 11-5) on Saturday.

Southeast, seventh in the 10-team OVC, has clinched a berth in the eight-team OVC tournament for the first time since the 2006-07 season.