March 6, 2003
Poughkeepsie, NY - Marist College men's basketball player, David Bennett (Salt Lake City, UT) has been named to the Verizon/CoSida Academic All-America Second Team, it was announced today. Bennett, who earned First-Team All-District One honors on February 20th, becomes just the fourth player in Marist College Athletic history to earn Academic All-America honors. In 2000 Amanda Koldjeski earned Second Team honors as a softball player, while women's soccer player, Jenny Shanks, was named to the Third Team this past fall, and men's basketball player Gregg Chodkowski, earned Third Team accolades in 1995.
To be eligible for Verizon Academic All-America honors, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or over on a 4.0 scale, be a starter or significant reserve for his or her team, and have completed one full academic year at the college or university.
Bennett, a senior, is having a career year for the Red Foxes, having totaled five single-game scoring highs since January 4th. In the Red Foxes last game, February 17th, Bennett connected on 9-13 from the field and 19-20 from the free throw line, to score a career-high 42 points. The effort was the fifth best in Marist history, and the seventh best in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play.
A transfer from Snow Junior College (UT), Bennett, is second on the team with his 13.1 points per game, and is averaging 10.6 points an outing over his 54 games with the Red Foxes. This season, Bennett is also second on the team with his 86 assists and 44 steals. For his career at Marist, Bennett has dished out 131 assists and has 77 steals.
Bennett, who earned Third Team All-MAAC accolades on Monday, is the Red Foxes top free-throw specialist and one of the best in the nation in free throw percentage. Through games of March 3rd, Bennett was the 11th best free throw shooter in the nation, hitting 90.8 percent of the time, 109-120. He has had streaks of 25, 23 and 22 straight free throws made this season, including a school record 16 straight in a single-game, versus Saint Peter's.
Bennett led the Red Foxes to a 12-15 overall record this season, and a number-six seed in the MAAC Tournament, which will be held at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ, March 7-10th. Marist will open play at 9:30 pm on Friday, when it takes on the ninth-seed, Canisius, in a game that will be aired live by Fox Sports - NY.
Marist is in its sixth season as a member of the 10-team MAAC, a Division I member of the NCAA. The Red Foxes have won four straight MAAC Commissioner's Cup Trophies, awarded annually for overall excellence within the athletic department's of the conference. Marist also had a conference-best 99 student-athletes named to the 2002 MAAC Academic Honor Roll.
