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Head Basketball Coach Phone: (812) 877-8497 Fax: (812) 877-8407 Kevin Lanke Sports Information Director (812) 877-8180 Toll Free Number 1-800-248-7448 Fax Number 1-812-877-8362 |
updated March 21, 2002 |
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Chris Unton Earns First-Team Verizon Academic All-American Honors
TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men’s basketball forward Chris Unton (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) earned first-team Verizon Academic All-American honors in balloting by the College Sports Information Directors of America released today. Unton’s honor marks the 16th consecutive year that a Rose-Hulman student-athlete has earned Academic All-American honors. He is the 27th Academic All-American at Rose-Hulman since 1990. Unton, who earned third-team Academic All-American honors last season, became the 52nd Academic All-American at Rose-Hulman since the program’s inception in 1978. He also becomes the first two-time men’s basketball Academic All-American in school history. "Being a two-time Academic All-American is a great honor. It was very humbling to see my name appear with only 14 others last season, and I am even more humbled to earn first-team honors this year," said Unton. The second-team all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference standout was a finalist for conference Defensive Player of the Year this season. Unton averaged 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Engineers as a senior and led the team in field-goal percentage (63.4%), blocked shots (30) and rebounds (147). The computer science major helped Rose-Hulman earn SCAC men’s basketball championships during his freshman and junior years while maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade-point-average. Despite the time required to balance school work and basketball, Unton graduated from Rose-Hulman one academic quarter early, completing his degree requirements in February. "Chris is exactly what Division III athletics is all about," said Rose-Hulman men’s basketball coach Jim Shaw. He is a high-achieving student first, but not at the expense of making himself the best athlete he can be. That dual focus at such a high level should be and is the model for Division III athletics." Unton finished his Rose-Hulman basketball career with 592 points, 399 rebounds, 89 assists, 68 blocked shots and 38 steals. He started the last 50 games of his college career and helped lead the Engineers to a record of 67-34 (.663) during his four seasons at Rose-Hulman. Other Rose-Hulman basketball players to earn Academic All-American awards include third-team honoree Ron Dale in 1981, second-team honoree David Urbanek in 1988 and second-team honoree Scott Beach in 1992. The most recent first-team Verizon Academic All-American selection was the choice of track and field pole vault national champion Ryan Loftus as the nation’s Academic All-American of the Year in 1998. |
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