SEMO men's basketball freshman Denzel Mahoney earns fourth OVC weekly honor

Southeast Missouri State's Denzel Mahoney is fouled by SIU-Edwardsville's Burak Eslik, right, while teammate Jalen Henry, left, defends during the first half Thursday, February 9, 2017, in Edwardsville, Illinois. (Trent Singer)

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball guard Denzel Mahoney has been named Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the fourth time in five weeks, the league announced Monday.

Mahoney averaged 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 assists in a pair of games last week for the Redhawks, shooting 46.4 (13 of 28) percent from the floor. The 6-foot-4 native of Oviedo, Florida, shot 42.9 percent (3 of 7) from 3-point range and was 13 of 15 (86.7 percent) from the free-throw line.

In a 71-67 win over host SIU-Edwardsville on Thursday, Mahoney scored a team-high 20 points. He followed up that performance two days later with a 22-point outing in an 86-80 loss at Eastern Illinois.

Mahoney has reached the 20-point plateau in four of his last six starts and ranks 17th in the conference in scoring (13.9 ppg). He's averaging 16.5 ppg in conference play, which ranks ninth in the league.