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Three EKU Colonels Earn All-OVC Honors; Mayo Chosen Freshman Of Year


BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky University’s Nick Mayo has been voted first team All-Ohio Valley Conference and the league’s Freshman of the Year, while senior Jarelle Reischel and junior JaVontae Hawkins have been voted second team All-OVC, the league office announced on Tuesday, March 1.

Mayo and Reischel were also named to the five-person OVC All-Newcomer Team.

Nick Mayo


Mayo (pictured, right) made an immediate impact for Eastern in his first year in the league, emerging as one of the top freshmen in the country. The 6-9 forward was the only Colonel to start all 31 games, averaging 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks/game while hitting 60.7 percent from the field, 55.6 percent from three-point range and 80.2 percent from the free throw line.

Mayo’s field goal percentage ranked him fourth in the OVC and 18th nationally. He ranked second in field goal percentage and 18th in total points (450) among all freshmen in the country.

Mayo scored 20-plus points on eight occasions, including a season-best 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting at SIUE on Jan. 16. He added three double-doubles, including 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks against Morehead State on Jan. 30. Mayo had 11 games where he shot 70 percent or better from the field with a minimum of five shot attempts.

In OVC-only games, the native of Oakland, Maine upped his scoring average to 16.6 points/game, which ranked ninth in the league. In those 16 contests he also ranked fourth in field goal percentage (61.7) and fifth in blocks (1.4/game).

Mayo was named OVC Freshman of the Week nine times during the year, the second-most single-season awards in the history of the award. He is the fourth different Colonel player to be named OVC Freshman of the Year and first since Adam Leonard shared the award in 2006-07.

He is one of only two freshmen in the last five years to be named first team All-OVC, joining former Murray State guard and NBA first round draft pick Cameron Payne (2013-14).

Jarelle Reischel


Reischel (pictured, left) transferred to EKU from Rhode Island in May, and he quickly blossomed into one of the best all-around players in the country under head coach Dan McHale. The 6-7 wing was the first player in America to reach 300 points, 100 rebounds and 50 assists this season, and he finished the season as EKU’s leading scorer and the OVC’s third-leading scorer (17.9 points/game). He also ranked in the top-15 in the OVC in rebounds (6.8 rebounds/game), free throw percentage (78.4), assists (3.2 assists/game) and steals (1.7 steals/game).

The native of Frankfurt, Germany scored a career-high 37 points versus Longwood on Nov. 22 and he just missed the first triple-double in EKU history versus Thomas More on Nov. 25, recording 16 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.

He scored his 1,000th collegiate point in EKU’s season finale at Tennessee Tech.

JaVontae Hawkins


Hawkins (pictured, right) ranked fifth in the league in scoring (17.0 points/game), 11th in field goal percentage (50.1) and 14th in free throw percentage (76.5) as a junior. The transfer from South Florida also averaged 4.8 rebounds/game, 2.1 assists/game and 1.0 steals/game.

He was named the national Mid-Major Player of the Week by College Sports Madness on Nov. 23 after averaging 20.3 points/game, 4.3 rebounds/game and 3.0 assists/game in three Colonel wins at the @EKUHoops Classic at McBrayer Arena.

Hawkins earned OVC Player of the Week honors after averaging 30.0 points/game over EKU’s historic road swing through Nashville in early February. The 6-5 wing from Flint, Michigan poured in a career-high 36 points in a 97-81 win at Tennessee State on Feb. 4 and, two nights later, scored a team-best 24 points to help the Colonels hand Belmont their first-ever OVC home loss, 88-78.

Against nationally-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 9, Hawkins led EKU with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. He notched his first-career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 91-88 win over conference foe Jacksonville State on Jan. 21.

Hawkins scored in double figures in all but three games in which he appeared this season.

EKU is the only team in the OVC with three players represented on both the first and second all-conference teams.

Photos by EKU Athletics


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