Southeast Missouri State's Wilford, Jones claim OVC weekly basketball awards

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team claimed two of the Ohio Valley Conference's three weekly awards Monday.

Senior guard Corey Wilford was named OVC player of the week and junior college transfer guard A.J. Jones is the OVC newcomer of the week.

Wilford was also named the College Sports Madness OVC and Mid-Major player of the week.

The accolades came on the heels of two impressive wins last week, 108-81 at Austin Peay on Thursday and 84-68 at Murray State on Saturday, marking Southeast's first sweep of that road swing in program history.

Wilford averaged 21 points in the two games and shot a sizzling 61.9 percent from 3-point range (13 of 21).

Wilford hit his first six 3-pointers en route to a team-high 26 points against Austin Peay. He reached a career high in 3-pointers by making 8 of 12 as the Redhawks ended a 14-game losing streak in Clarksville, Tenn.

Two days later, Wilford nailed 5 of 9 3-pointers and scored 16 points as Southeast won at Murray State for the first time since 2006-07.

Jones did not miss a field goal in last week's two games. He averaged 13.5 points and five rebounds.

Jones scored a team-high 20 points at Murray State. He was 6 of 6 from the field, including 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, and made all four of his free throws.

Wilford is Southeast's second-leading scorer with a 14.8 average. He has hit a team-high 80 3-pointers and ranks 13th nationally in 3-point percentage (44.4).

Southeast (16-15, 8-8), which has won five of its last seven games, is the sixth seed for this week's eight-team OVC tournament. The Redhawks open play against seventh-seeded Eastern Illinois at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.