Winans earns national honor

For the second year in a row, Southeast Missouri State basketball player Derek Winans has received one of the nation's highest honors for combined excellence in athletics and academics.

Winans, a senior guard from Shawnee (Ill.) High School, on Wednesday was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America basketball team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

And this time Winans is a first-team selection, after making the second team last year. He has a 3.977 cumulative grade point average while majoring in business.

"It is awesome to be honored as a first-team academic All-America," Winans said. "The recognition is a reward for all of the hard work I have put in not only on the court but in the classroom."

Winans joins Eric Castro of Southern Methodist, Will Emerson of Mercer, Johannes Herber of West Virginia and Chris Hill of Michigan State on the first team. He is the first Southeast basketball player to ever be named an academic All-America.

"This is a tremendous honor for Derek, and there certainly is not a more deserving student-athlete in the country," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "There are over 3,000 athletes playing Division I basketball, and Derek is one of the top five when you combine playing ability and academic success."

Winans is fifth on Southeast's career scoring list with 1,498 points, and he is eighth on the all-time assist list with 280. Winans is also the school's record-holder for career 3-pointers made and attempted, with 218 out of 560.

Winans, Southeast's leading scorer each of the past three seasons, missed all of preseason practice this year and the first four games because of a stress fracture in his leg, thus ending his streak of having started 84 consecutive games. He still is averaging just over 10 points per game.

Southeast (15-13), after beating Murray State on Tuesday in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, plays Eastern Kentucky at 8 p.m. Friday in the semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. It will be the Redhawks' first semifinal appearance since the 1999-2000 season.