University of Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball player Harrison Cleary (Jr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) was among the 100 players named by smallcollegebasketball.com to the initial watch list for the 2019 Bevo Francis Award, for the top player in small college basketball (NCAA Division II, NCAA 
Division III, NAIA, USCAA, and NCCAA).
Cleary comes into the weekend averaging 23.3 points per game for the Golden Eagles. He is shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 93.1 percent from the charity stripe. Cleary has had three games with over 30 points this season, including a career-high 47 points at home against Minnesota State University Moorhead. Cleary has tallied 12 games with over 20 points this season. Cleary is 12th nationally in scoring entering the weekend. He comes in 11th in NSIC history in scoring with 1,289 points. Cleary needs three points to surpass Brett Ervin the of the University of Minnesota Duluth for 10th all-time. In his career, Cleary has 1,785 points. He needs 133 points to surpass Joe Hasz for the Minnesota Crookston school record for scoring.
The Bevo Francis Award Watch List was selected by a committee of coaches, who chose the elite group from over 1,100 colleges and universities based on individual statistics, previous awards, milestones and team success. Members of the Bevo Francis Award committee include the following coaches: Tobin Anderson – St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.), Gerald Holmes – Bloomfield (N.J.), Gary Stewart – Stevenson (Md.), Arlen Galloway – Wentworth (Mass.), Chris Briggs – Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen – Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Klint Pleasant – Rochester (Mich.), Ryan Kane – Ripon (Wisc.), Mark Berokoff – Hillsdale Baptist (Okla.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Rhett Soliday – Vanguard (Calif.), Sam Hargraves – Alma (Mich.), Greg Mason – Centre (Ky.) and Ryan Looney – Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.).
Bevo Francis played at Rio Grande College (now the University of Rio Grande) in Ohio in 1952-53 and 1953-54. When he arrived on campus, the school had 38 male students enrolled in the school and was on the verge of bankruptcy, planning to close its doors at the end of the 1952-53 school year. In the season before Bevo arrived at Rio Grande, the Redmen (now the Red Storm) had gone 4-19. During his two seasons at Rio Grande, Bevo became the most popular basketball player in the world and ultimately helped to save the school from bankruptcy. During his first year, the Redmen went 39-0, and Bevo scored 1,954 points and averaged 50.1 points per game. Against Ashland College (KY), Francis scored 116 points, which included 55 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.
On February 15, Small College Basketball, which is a comprehensive website on small college basketball, will publish the next Watch List with 50 players. The list will be narrowed down to 25 players in a Watch List published on March 15. The finalists will be announced in a highlight video that will be released on April 6. The 2019 Bevo Francis Award winner will be announced on April 8. The award will be presented to the award winner on May 11 at the SCB National Awards Show in conjunction with the SCB Alumni Association’s Celebration of the Game event at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
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