BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Men's basketball senior Taiwo Badmus has been named to the 2018 All-MEC First Team. Sophomore point guard Michal Seals has been selected to the 2018 All-MEC Second Team. The league office made the announcement Tuesday afternoon.

Badmus completed the regular season averaging 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds. Tallying his 1,000th point earlier in the season at home against Glenville State, the 6-foot-7 forward currently sits at 1,213 points placing him 16th on the all-time scoring list for UVa-Wise men's basketball.

The London, England native has recorded 584 points this season alongside 39 blocks, 48 assists, and 274 rebounds. Averaging 35.8 minutes this season, Badmus has shot 46.6 percent from the floor and 72.9 percent from the free throw line.

Badmus' 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds have placed him third in the league in scoring and second in the league in rebounding.

Seals wrapped up the regular season averaging 16.9 points per game and 6.9 assists per game. The Lancaster, Pa. native shot 41 percent from the field and 81 percent from the foul line on the season, starting in all 28 games played.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore collected 472 points, 57 steals, and 192 assists over the course of the regular season. Seals 6.9 assists per game leads the conference and ranks him ninth in the nation while sitting at third in the league in steals averaging 2.1 per game.

Seals scored his first career triple-double at home against West Virginia State posting a season-high 26 points, career-high 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. The point guard's triple-double was the second in David J. Prior Convocation Center history.

Wheeling Jesuit's Haywood Highsmith has been selected as the Mountain East Conference Player of the Year, while West Liberty's Dalton Bolon was tabbed as the league's Freshman of the Year. WLU's Ben Howlett was chosen as the MEC Coach of the Year.

Highsmith, a senior from Baltimore, Md., filled the box score on a nightly basis averaging 21.7 points, 12.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. He leads the league in rebounding and is fourth in the country in that category, and is second in the conference scoring and field goal percentage. His 25 double-doubles this year lead the country.  

Bolon, a native of Gnadenhutten, Ohio, averaged 16.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in his first season with the Hilltoppers. Bolon leads all MEC freshmen in scoring and is third in the country among freshmen in that category. Bolon averages 3.15 made threes per game (second in the league), and is shooting 41 percent from behind the arc. 

Howlett led West Liberty to a 25-2 record in his first season as head coach of the Hilltoppers. He also directed WLU to a 20-2 conference record and the MEC regular season championship. Howlett's 25 wins are the most by a first-year coach at West Liberty. WLU has been nationally ranked in the top 10 for the entirety of the regular season, including two weeks at No. 1. Howlett's squad is among the national leaders in multiple categories, including No. 1 in the country in scoring (106.7), assists (20.9), assist/turnover ratio (2.04) and turnover margin (+8.6).

Shepherd's A.J. Carr, Wheeling Jesuit's Pat Moseh and West Liberty's Dan Monteroso are returning first team picks this year, joining Highsmith on the first team. Keir Anderson (Charleston), Taiwo Badmus (UVa-Wise), Tommy Bolte (Concord) and Pat Johnson-Agwu (West Virginia State) complete the first team.

Three Fairmont State players earned second team honors in Caleb Davis, Jason Jolly and Vonte Montgomery. Bolon earned a spot on the second team, as did West Virginia Wesleyan's Aaron Ariri, Wheeling Jesuit's Preston Boswell, Glenville State's Darhius Nunn and UVa-Wise's Michal Seals.

Malik Jacobs (Urbana), Thomas Lang (Shepherd), Kyauta Taylor (Notre Dame) and Jordan Watson (West Liberty) earned honorable mention recognition.

The All-MEC teams are selected by a vote of the league's coaches.

Previous Winners
Player of the Year
2014: Cedric Harris (West Liberty)
2015: Seger Bonifant (West Liberty)
2016: Seger Bonifant (West Liberty)
2017: Matt Bingaya (Fairmont State)
2018: Haywood Highsmith (Wheeling Jesuit)

Freshman of the Year
2014: Thomas Wimbush (Fairmont State)
2015: Pat Moseh (Wheeling Jesuit)
2016: David Dennis (West Liberty)
2017: Luke Layhew (West Virginia Wesleyan)
2018: Dalton Bolon (West Liberty)

Coach of the Year
2014: Jim Crutchfield (West Liberty)/Dwaine Osborne (Charleston)
2015: Kent McBride (Concord)
2016: Dan Sancomb (Wheeling Jesuit)
2017: Jerrod Calhoun (Fairmont State)
2018: Ben Howlett (West Liberty)