Gast Earns All-SLC Academic Honors
4/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 16, 2003
PLANO, Texas -- Stephen F. Austin's Jasen Gast used his 3.31 g.p.a. in international business to land a spot on the Southland all-academic team. Gast was the fourth-leading scorer on the 21-8 Lumberjack team with 8.6 points per game, helping SFA to a second-place finish in the Southland standings. He scored in double figures 12 times while playing in all 29 contests with 23 starts. Gast had a career-high 20 points against Texas-San Antonio. He led the Southland in free throw percentage at 87.5, averaged 2.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.3 steals. Gast was also named to the Dean's List at SFA.
"This is a great honor for Jasen. He has worked tremendously hard on the court and in the classroom here at SFA," said SFA head basketball coach Danny Kaspar. "?Through his hard work he has shown steady improvement on the court. I hope that he cane continue his academic success and repeat this honor as a senior, as well as, earn All-Southland Conference honors next season."
The University of Texas at Arlington placed three student-athletes on the 2003 Southland Conference Men's Basketball All-Academic Team, the league office announced today.
The Southland all-academic teams, voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators, honor those student-athletes who earned at least a 3.00 grade point average while serving as a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletic credentials. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing within the institution and must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution.
Heading up the list for UTA is Josh Daniel, one of two seniors named to the team, with the top grade point average at 3.74 as a public relations major. The guard from Jonesboro, Ark., had already been named the 2003 Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year in the Southland Conference. Daniel was also named to the Verizon Academic All-District VI team after starting 29 games and helping UTA to a 16-13 record. He led the team in assists with 149, the fifth-highest total in school history. He also led the team with 29 3-pointers, led it in scoring four times and assists 20 times. Daniel finished second in the Southland in assists with 4.6 per game and fourth in assist-turnover ratio.
Joining Daniel are teammates Donny Beacham and Roy Johnson, both juniors.
Beacham played in all 29 games for the Mavericks, averaging 4.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He was an All-Academic pick a year ago, along with being named Verizon Academic All-District VI in 2002. He was a key reserve off the bench who scored a career high 17 points in a victory over Texas-San Antonio. He tied a career high with 10 rebounds in a win over Arkansas-Monticello and added 10 points for a double-double. Beacham finished third on the team in steals. He was the 2002 UTA Super Scholar Athlete. Beacham is an information systems major with a 3.49 g.p.a.
Johnson, who has a 3.27 g.p.a. in business administration, was a third-team All-Southland Conference pick this season after averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds for the Mavs. He started all 29 games and finished third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding. He was second on the team in field goal percentage (49.8) and eighth in the SLC. Johnson was second on the team in free throw percentage (78.3), ranking him sixth in the Southland, while leading the team in blocked shots with 0.9 per game to rank ninth in the league. He was the 2002 UTA Scholar Athlete of the Year and named to the honor roll.
Rounding out the squad is Nicholls State,s Damien Lennon, a business major with a 3.04 g.p.a. Lennon started 12 games and played in all 28 for the 3-25 Colonels. He averaged 8.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists. Lennon ranked fifth in 3-point field goals made in the Southland with 59. He has started 28 of 53 games played at Nicholls in two years. He finished strong by averaging 15 points per game over the final 10 contests in 2003.
