ST. LOUIS -- Missouri State men's basketball standout Damien Mayo Jr. (So., St. Louis, Mo.) was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team on Monday, earning an honorable mention nod on the 14-player team. 

Mayo is majoring in Accounting and holds a 3.58 grade-point average. Mayo is the first Missouri State player to earn MVC Scholar-Athlete laurels since 2017 (Austin Ruder and Tyler McCullough).

He has started 19 games in 27 appearances this season and is averaging 5.3 points,  3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. Missouri State's "glue guy" has converted 56.7 percent of his field goal attempts and 93.3 percent of his free throws in conference play while averaging 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds against Valley foes.

Mayo represents the first Missouri State player since 2017 (Austin Ruder and Tyler McCullough) to be so honored by the Missouri Valley Conference.

The MVC's Scholar-Athlete Team also includes first-team selections Quincy Anderson (Murray State), Trent Brown (Southern Illinois), Connor Hickman (Bradley), Ben Humrichous (Evansville), Filip Skobalj (UIC) and Cade Tyson (Belmont). The second team includes: Xavier Bledson (Indiana State), Michael Duax (UNI), Conor Enright (Drake), Nate Heise (UNI) and Jayson Kent (Indiana State). Other honorable-mention honorees were Isaiah Walker (Belmont) and Landon Wolf (UNI).

Humrichous is the 2024 MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The Bears kick off Arch Madness on Thursday at 12 Noon against Murray State in the opening round at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.