ONU's Edwards Tops List of 36 Men's Basketball Postseason Honorees
CHICAGO --- Regular-season champion Governors State University landed the most men's basketball honors, including three of the top five individual awards, when the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its postseason honor roll on Tuesday afternoon. The Jaguars' program also boasted the most all-conference selections with four over three groupings.
GSU amassed seven awards after all was said and done. Following closely behind was Olivet Nazarene University with six selections, tournament champion University of St. Francis with five and both Holy Cross College and Trinity Christian College with four each.
The rest of the field included two selections each from Indiana University Northwest, St. Ambrose University, Indiana University South Bend and Calumet College of St. Joseph, and one representative from both Saint Xavier University and Viterbo University.
A total of 36 honors were presented on the day, including a five-member all-conference first team and ten honorees on both the second-team and honorable-mention lists. There was also a five-member all-freshman squad.
Headlining the contingent was Olivet Nazarene's Eli Edwards (Kokomo, Ind.), who was named the CCAC Player of the Year after ranking among the top 10 performers in no fewer than nine categories. He currently tops the league charts in scoring (22.6 ppg), field goals made (263) and offensive rebounds (81), while placing second in total rebounds (232) and third in field goal percentage (.598) and rebounds per game (8.3).
Edwards also holds the No. 4 spot in total blocks (34) and is fifth in free throws made (97) and free throw percentage (.789).
On the national level, the senior forward/center ranks eighth in scoring.
Edwards was joined on the first team by Indiana Northwest's Ladaion Barnes (Hammond, Ind.), Governors State's Maxwell Marius (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.), St. Ambrose's Guillermo Narbona (Malaga, Spain) and St. Francis' Joffrey Nunnally (Lithia Springs, Fla.).
Marius' recognition was one of two that he received. He was also named the CCAC Newcomer of the Year after ranking in the Top 10 in scoring (16.3 ppg) and three other categories. The senior guard's highest mark is his 140 free throws made, which leads the conference.
Marius is also second in steals (55), fifth in field goals made (174) and 12th in rebounding (6.0 rpg). He was joined by teammate Vincent Mayes (Chicago, Ill.) as one of the top performers in the league in 2025-26.
The No. 1 shot blocker in the CCAC and the fifth-best in the nation, Mayes was recognized as the CCAC Defensive Player of the Year. He has also recorded 16 steals and an average of 4.9 rebounds per outing.
Offensively, the senior forward/center has used the league's best field goal percentage (.665) to average 11.8 points per game.
Governors State's success was directed by program founder Tony Bates, who was named the CCAC Coach of the Year. The 11-year veteran coach has led the Jaguars to a 22-9 overall record and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
The other top award was earned by Holy Cross' Donovan Waleskowski (Cincinnati, Ohio), who claimed CCAC Freshman of the year recognition. In his first collegiate season, the guard averaged 15.0 points per game (15th in the league) due in part to his 50 three-pointers (11th) and 111 free throws made (second).
He also has the fourth-best free throw percentage at .799.
In the team category, recognized as the CCAC Champions of Character Team for 2025-25 was Trinity Christian College.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.