Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Jan. 15, 2018 - North Central College senior men's basketball student-athlete Alex Sorenson is one of 100 players from more than 1,100 collegiate institutions to be named to the initial Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award, which recognizes the finest men's basketball player in the country among NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA teams. The first Watch List for this year's award, now in its third year, was released by Small College Basketball, a national publication covering basketball outside the NCAA Division I level, on Monday.

A First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) and Second Team All-Central Region honoree each of the past two seasons, Sorenson is the Cardinals' current leader in points (18.6 per game), rebounds (9.5) and blocked shots (1.1) this season and is leading the CCIW in field-goal percentage (64.0). He is averaging 23.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game over North Central's past eight games, each of which have resulted in wins.

He broke a 62 year-old North Central single-game record by scoring 54 points on 25 of 29 shooting in a 117-72 victory over Robert Morris University-Chicago on Dec. 30 and currently ranks 15th all-time in career scoring for the Cardinals (1,207).

Of the players on the season's first Watch List, 25 compete at Division III institutions. Sorenson is one of just two CCIW players on the list, joined by Wheaton College's Aston Francis. The next Watch List, consisting of 50 players, will be published Feb. 15, with a 25-player Watch List to follow on Mar. 15. The finalists will be announced in a highlight video to be released Mar. 31. The winner will be announced Apr. 2, and will be formally presented with the award on May 19 at the newly-created National Awards Show in conjunction with the Small College Basketball Alumni Association's Celebration of the Game event at the Crowne Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.

The award is named in honor of the late Clarence 'Bevo' Francis, who established new NCAA and NAIA records for points scored in a season and a single game for Rio Grande College (now the University of Rio Grande) in Ohio during the 1952-53 and 1953-54 campaigns.

The Cardinals host Finlandia University (Michigan) in non-conference play on Tuesday, with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m.