BAY CITY, Mich - Hillsdale junior Kyle Cooper, Findlay senior Jake Heagen, Grand Valley State senior Ryan Sabin and Michigan Tech junior Kyle Stankowski and fellow teammate senior Ben Stelzer were named to the 2014-15 CoSIDA Academic All-District Four Team for men's basketball at the NCAA Division II level on Thursday (Feb. 5).
Hillsdale's junior Kyle Cooper's basketball excellence has been abundant throughout this 2014-15 season. He's currently the GLIAC's second-leading scorer and top rebounder while logging heavy minutes on the court for the Chargers. Cooper's outstanding basketball season, combined with one of the highest overall grade point averages for any student-athlete on Hillsdale's campus, and is the first Charger men's basketball player under head coach John Tharp to earn a spot on the academic all-district team.
Findlay senior Jake Heagen, who has a 3.75 grade point average in business, is averaging 14.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game for the Oilers this season.
Senior Ryan Sabin from Grand Valley State is a finance major with nearly a 3.6 GPA, Sabin leads the Lakers with 13.7 points per game and has knocked down a team-best 37 three-pointers. Earlier this season in a game at Findlay, Sabin became the 32nd member of the 1,000 point club at GVSU. He currently sits in 27th place in Laker history with 1,144 career points. He leads the GLIAC with a 91.7 free throw percentage, good for fifth in all of Division II.
Michigan Tech junior Kyle Stankowski and senior Ben Stelzer round out the men's basketball honorees for the GLIAC. Stankowski is an electrical engineering major from Mosinee, Wisconsin who has accumulated a 3.92 for the Huskies and averaged 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.4 percent in 2014-15, including 27 blocks (seventh best in the conference). Stelzer was the Preseason GLIAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year and is currently leading the league in scoring at a 21.2 points per game clip thanks to 46.3 percent 3-point shooting and 83 percent foul line shooting. Stelzer holds a 3.69 GPA as a finance major up in Houghton.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic AllAmerica honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
