AUSTIN, Tex. – The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced the College Division 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® basketball teams on Monday, and Corban University men's basketball senior forward Cyrus Ward (Gig Harbor, Wash.) landed on the Academic All-America First Team for the Warriors. Ward is the only member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) to earn either First or Second-team honors in 2015-16.
For Ward, it is his first-ever CoSIDA Academic All-America® plaudit.
The College Division CoSIDA Academic All-America® men's basketball teams include 10 student-athletes from NAIA, Canadian, and two-year institutions. The cumulative GPA for this year's first and second teams were 3.92. In order to garner CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors, a student-athlete must boast excellence both on and off the court.
Ward's historic 2015-16 campaign on the court saw him average a career-best 18.9 points per game to go with 8.0 rebounds per game. Down the stretch of the regular season and postseason, Ward left it all on the court, and in his final game as a Warrior, scored 33 points in a CCC Tournament Quarterfinal contest. On the year, he scored over 30 points three times and scored 20 or more points on 11 occasions, joining the Warrior 1000-Point Club in the process. A dominant force down low, he also recorded seven double-doubles during the campaign.
While great on the court, he's been just as good in the classroom, boasting a 3.90 GPA as a business major. On top of his GPA, he's been named an NAIA Scholar-Athlete and a CCC All-Academic honoree for the Warriors while also previously garnering CoSIDA Academic All-District plaudits earlier this month.
For a complete look at the College Division 2015-16 CoSIDA Men's Basketball Academic All-Americans, click here.