INDIANA, Pa. – The awards and accolades continue rolling in for IUP men's basketball senior forward, named to the Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List, announced Thursday.
IUP has had representation on the Bevo Francis Top 100 watch list for eight straight years. Porterfield was named to the list in mid-January, also named to the Trevor Hudgins Top 25 Watch List (finest four-year career in Small College Basketball).
Shawndale Jones and
Dave Morris were among the top 100 list last season, in addition to
Armoni Foster in 2019-20 and 2021-22. Forward Jacobo Diaz made it three straight years (2017-19) while guard Brandon Norfleet (2016) was on the list in the award's inaugural season.
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
Porterfield is arguably the most decorated player in program history, posting a combined mark of 110-16 (.873) since 2018-19 (including three-game 2020-21 season). He's played in 123 of a possible 126 games in his career, a remarkable accomplishment despite battling injury and illness throughout his time at IUP.
The Sharon, Pa. native has racked up multiple awards over his tenure, including the PSAC West Freshman of the Year (2019-20), All-PSAC West First Team (2021-22), NABC All-Region (2021-22), Atlantic Region Tournament MVP (2021-22) and PSAC Tournament MVP (2021-22, 2022-23).
He's played a key role in the team's overall run of unprecedented success that includes three straight PSAC West regular season titles and three straight PSAC Championships (four overall). The Crimson hawks won the Atlantic Region in 2021-22, advancing to the 2022 NCAA DII Final Four.
Individually, Porterfield continues climbing up the school's all-time record book in nearly every statistical category. Setting a career high scoring output in each of the last two games this week, moving to second on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,769 career points. Porterfield moved to third in career field goals made (660), just one shy of Derrick Freeman (661) for second in program history.
Porterfield is third in school history in blocks (157) and fifth in rebounding (835). This season, Porterfield ranks fifth in the PSAC in scoring average (18.9), second in rebounding (9.0), second in double-doubles (10) and fifth in three-point field goals made (57).
He's fresh off a career-high 33-point effort on February 14 against UPJ, posting a combined 64 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals in the last two games for the Hawks.
2024 marks the eighth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022.
The award was not presented during the 2021 season. On March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. The finalists and Bevo Francis Award winner announcement release date is TBD. More information will be available in the coming months.
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen - Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Mark Berokoff – Oklahoma City, Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Sam Hargraves – Olivet (Mich.), Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Chase Tiechmann – Florida College, Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa (Kan.), Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O'Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Ben Thompson – Emory & Henry, Justin Leslie – Midwestern State, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma Nazarene.
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For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP men's basketball on X (Twitter) @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.
