Tuesday, June 11, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore.  –   Seattle Pacific University basketball player Dave Downs has been voted the 2012-13 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Downs received six of the 10 first-place votes from the conference’s athletic directors outpointing Northwest Nazarene soccer player Stephen Marshall 20-16 to win the award.

He is just the second basketball player in the 12-year history of the conference to win the award, joining Tony Binetti of Seattle Pacific who was the scholar-athlete winner during the 2005-06 season.

Downs, who is an accounting major, has a 3.82 grade point average.

Earlier this winter, he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American team for the second year in a row.  

Downs, who earned second team Academic All-American honors last year, was a third team selection this season.

He is the first men's basketball player in GNAC history to receive Academic All-American honors twice.  He has also twice been named to the GNAC Academic All-Conference team.

Downs averaged 14.2 points and 5.5 assists this past season leading the Falcons to a 27-4 record and the GNAC conference tournament championship. 

SPU’s win total equaled its school record and its winning percentage (87.1) established a new school mark.

Downs was also named to the GNAC all-conference first team for the second year in a row and was selected the Most Valuable Player in the conference tournament as he led the Falcons to a 72-70 upset of regular-season champion Western Washington.

By virtue of winning the conference academic award, Downs is now a candidate for the Conference Commissioners Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which will be selected this summer.