Stone, Wright earn OVC honors

Southeast Missouri State junior forward Tyler Stone repeated as a second-team all-Ohio Valley Conference selection Tuesday.

Southeast's women also received an OVC honor as freshman guard Kara Wright was named to the conference's all-newcomer team.

The OVC's men's and women's postseason basketball awards, voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors, were announced on the eve of the OVC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Stone leads Southeast and ranks ninth in the OVC in scoring with an average of 15.3 points per game. He is second on the squad in rebounding with a 7.8 mark, which is tied for third in the league.

Stone also ranks among the conference leaders in field-goal percentage (13th, 48.1), free-throw percentage (12th, 78.7) and blocks (fifth, 1.4).

Stone, the first Southeast player to earn second-team all-OVC honors in consecutive seasons, has scored in double figures in 28 of Southeast's 31 games this year. He has been over 20 points seven times, including a career-high 32 points against Central Arkansas on Dec. 8.

"Tyler is having another very good year for us. It's good for him to be recognized," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said.

Wright had an impressive rookie season, especially after moving into the starting lineup just under halfway through the season. She finished as the squad's No. 4 scorer (8.5 ppg), was second in assists (56) and second in blocks (15).

Wright, who shot 45.5 percent from the field to lead the Redhawks and rank sixth in the OVC, especially stood out during conference play as her 10.6 scoring average was second on the team.

"Kara had a tremendous season," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "We asked her to do a lot for a freshman. We asked her to guard the other team's best offensive player, to do a lot of scoring."

Wright scored in double figures 10 times and tallied 20 points or more on three occasions. Her 23-point outburst at Austin Peay on Feb. 4 was the highest point total by any Southeast player this season.

Wright is the first Southeast player to earn a spot on the OVC all-newcomer team since the 2006-07 season and she is the first Southeast player to earn any all-conference recognition since the 2008-09 campaign.

Top awards

OVC regular-season men's champion Belmont, which captured the title during its first year in the league, won three of the conference's four major individual awards.

Belmont senior guard Ian Clark and Murray State senior guard Isaiah Canaan shared player of the year honors, marking just the fourth time that has happened in the 65-year history of the conference.

Clark also captured the defensive player of the year award. Belmont's Rick Byrd was named coach of the year.

Austin Peay center Chris Horton garnered freshman of the year honors.

Clark ranks third nationally in 3-point shooting at 46.2 percent and his 18.1 scoring average is third in the OVC. Canaan leads the league and ranks eighth nationally in scoring, averaging 21.6 points.

Both Clark and Canaan, last season's player of the year, are candidates for the Naismith and Lou Henson national player of the year awards.

Tennessee-Martin took two of the four major individual awards on the women's side.

Junior guard Jasmine Newsome repeated as player of the year and was also voted defensive player of the year, becoming the first player in league history to earn both awards in the same season.

Newsome is averaging a league-high 21.9 points, which is seventh nationally. She also leads the OVC with 3.13 steals per game and her 5.6 assists per contest are second in the conference.

Murray State guard Erika Sisk was named freshman of the year, and Eastern Illinois' Lee Buchanan garnered coach of the year honors after leading the Panthers to a share of the OVC regular-season title during his first year directing the program.