The Missouri Southern men’s basketball team has had quite a season. The Lions are 19-7 so far and are ranked No. 17 in the nation among NCAA Division II schools.

Southern basketball is ranked third in the MIAA, sitting below Rogers State and Northwest Missouri, and have clinched their spot in the MIAA championship, which begins March 4 in Kansas City.

Their final regular season game will be at 3:30 p.m. at home Feb. 29 against Lincoln University of Missouri. The game is to be held in Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Not only have the Lions had an overall successful season, but one player in particular has stood out. Cam Martin, junior general studies major, has made a good name for himself in the MIAA. 

This season, Martin has been named MIAA Player of the Week seven times, including the last three weeks in a row. However, Martin has his eyes set on a bigger prize.

“I’m not too worried about the awards,” Martin said. “I want a national championship.”

On Feb. 22, Martin broke the school’s single-game scoring record with 54 points after tying the previous record last season. However, he said there wasn’t much to celebrate after this since they came up short in the game against the Griffons.

For the second year in a row, Martin has made it into the Top 50 of the Bevo Francis watch list. The Bevo Francis award is a national small college award dedicated to recognizing outstanding players from small schools in the U.S.

Martin is in the Top 50 of over 15,000 players from 1,100 schools. He has already made it through one narrowing of the pool and hopes to make it into the Top 25 list, which releases March 15. The finalists for the award will come out Apr. 4 and the winner will be announced Apr. 6.

On top of all that, Martin leads the MIAA in scoring, free throws and is second in rebounds. 

“No matter what I do, I want to try and win,” Martin said. 

He has a very competitive spirit that drives him to be the best.

Moving forward, Martin would like to have the all-time school scoring record and be a part of the first Southern team to win a national championship. He also would like to improve on being a more vocal leader, rather than just leading by action.

Martin hopes to continue his basketball career after Southern in the NBA and one-day coach college basketball. His favorite part about playing at Southern is how much fun his coaches and teammates make the game he loves.