KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has announced the 2019-20 NABC Honors Court, recognizing more than 1,350 men's collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season. The list includes Moravian College seniors C.J. Barnes and Mike Martino and a total of eight men's basketball student-athletes from the Landmark Conference.
The NABC Honors Court highlights the talents and gifts that these men possess on the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. The qualifications are as follows: 1. Academically a junior or senior and a varsity player. 2. Cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year. 3. Students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution. 4. Member of a NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Division I or II institution with a NABC member coach.
Barnes saw action in 110 career games, tied for the most in school history, with 49 starts, and he scored 1,248 points, which is 15th in school history, to go along with 443 rebounds, 212 three-pointers, which is second all-time, 92 assists, 82 steals and 33 blocked shots in his career. Barnes was a three-time Landmark Conference Winter Academic Honor Roll honoree, and he was selected to the 2019 and 2020 Landmark All-Conference Second Team. He was also honored on the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Team of the Year in 2020, and Barnes is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society while making Moravian's Dean's List four times. He graduated this past May with a degree in management and a minor in philosophy.
Martino contributed 216 points in his career over 107 games with 37 starts. He also recorded 216 rebounds, 264 assists, which is eighth in school history, 95 steals, 41 three-pointers and four blocked shots. Martino is a three-time member of the Landmark Conference Winter Academic Honor Roll, and he was on the 2020 Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Scholar-Athlete Team while making Moravian's Dean's List twice. He graduated with a degree in secondary education this past May.
"C.J. & Mike had great basketball careers and were tremendous representatives of our program off the court as well," commented Head Coach Shawn Postiglione. "We commend them on their academic accomplishments and look forward to seeing their next successes as new Moravian College graduates."
The NABC has also announced the eighth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics. These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2019-20 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who competed during the 2019-20 season.
Moravian's team recorded a 3.39 GPA in the spring semester and has a 3.10 overall GPA. The Greyhounds are one of 310 college basketball teams list and one of just two schools from the Landmark Conference to earn the honor.
"This recognition is a testament to the focus and hard work our group puts into achieving academic success," Postiglione said. "Our team is a really good group of young men who take both academics and basketball seriously, and I am proud of what they have accomplished on and off the court this past year."
More information can be found at https://nabc.com/NABC_Honors_Court/index.
