Friday, August 1, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Seattle Pacific has received the prestigious Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) for the second straight season and four SPU student-athletes garnered individual recognition.

The Falcons were the only Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) team to receive the NABC academic award and one of only three schools from the state of Washington, joining Eastern Washington and Whitworth.

SPU was one of 133 men's basketball programs honored with the award that recognizes outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2013-14 season. The award, which inaugurated last year, covers college programs from NCAA Division I, II, and III along with NAIA Division I and II members.

The Falcons compiled an impressive 3.36 combined grade-point average and 14 of 16 players on the roster possess a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. They recently received the GNAC trophy for posting the top GPA among the league’s men’s basketball teams. That was their fourth consecutive conference academic crown.

David Downs (Accounting, Sr., Kirkland, WA - Bellevue Christian), Riley Stockton (Business, Jr., Spokane, WA - Ferris), Ryan Todd (Finance, Jr., Mill Creek, WA - Jackson) and Patrick Simon (Business, Sr., Ephrata, WA) were named to the NABC Honors Court that recognizes players for outstanding academic achievement.

Also selected to the NABC Honors Court were two Central Washington players - Mark McLaughlin (Sociology, Sr., Bothell, WA - Inglemoor) and Joey Roppo (Information Technology, So., Monroe, WA).

Nearly 900 players from 335 college and universities received NABC Honors Court honors.