INDIANAPOLIS - The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced University of Southern Indiana's Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) as the 2019 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award winner on Thursday afternoon.

The Scharf Paragon Award was established in honor of former GLVC Commissioner Richard F. Scharf prior to the 1990-91 season and is given to the top male and female student-athlete in the GLVC, that displays excellence and achievement on and off the field of play. Stein is the first USI student-athlete to earn the award since 2005 (Matt Keener '05), and the eighth since the inaugural award in 1991.

"I am sure when the GLVC started this award in Commissioner Scharf's honor, Alex is exactly the type of student-athlete they were envisioning winning the award," said USI Director of Athletics Jon Mark Hall. "Alex obviously excels on the court, but he is also a wonderful community servant and an outstanding student."

For the 2018-19 season, Stein was named Division II Bulletin and D2CCA All-American honorable mention, D2CCA and NABC first team All-Midwest along with being selected first-team All-GLVC. 

Stein earned the NCAA II Midwest Region Most Outstanding player award and was a member of the NCAA II Elite Eight All-Tournament team, averaging 21.6 points per contest in the postseason including a school-record 31 points in the national quarterfinal against West Texas A&M.

The 2015 GLVC Freshman of the Year went on to garner three All-GLVC first-team nods, two All-America honorable mentions, and three All-Midwest selections over his four years in a Screaming Eagles uniform.

"Being named the male recipient of the Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award is a fitting final accolade for what's been an amazing career," commented USI Faculty Athletics Representative Michael Broshears. "I'm confident that he will represent the GLVC and the University of Southern Indiana brilliantly as this year's recipient."

Stein graduated from USI's Romain College of Business in December with a Bachelor of Science in Management with a minor in Sport and Business Studies. His academic efforts landed a Google Cloud third-team Academic All-American selection this season, along with five other academic All-GLVC or All-District awards in his career.

"Quite honestly, Alex was one of the most committed and accomplished student-athletes I have worked with in my time at USI," Broshears added. "He balanced a wonderful academic and athletic career with a strong commitment to involvement at USI, through his academic program and volunteerism in the Evansville community."

The senior guard led the Eagles to their first NCAA II Elite Eight appearance since 2004 with a school-record single-season scoring output of 732 points (20.9 per game), on 55 percent shooting from the field. Stein closed his storied USI career as the all-time scoring leader with 2,219 points.

Stein will be formally recognized Tuesday, May 21, at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Awards Banquet at the Drury Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri.