March 5, 2012
NORMAL, Ill. -
Sophomore Jon Ekey, who sank four three-pointers and scored 13 points in Sunday's 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship Game, earned First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors Monday, as announced by the league office.
Ekey, a native of Independence, Mo., started 30 of his 33 games played this season. He ranks fourth on the squad with 8.8 points per game and second on the team with 4.8 rebounds per contest.
Ekey carries a 3.24 grade-point average and is pursuing a degree in business administration. He was named the Prairie Farms/MVC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week four times this season. Ekey is the first Redbird to receive first-team scholar-athlete honors since Neil Plank following the 2005-06 season.
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Capital One Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (4.0 scale).
Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution. He must have played in 75 percent of his team's games, or played in the State Farm MVC Championship this past week.
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