Moon's Academic All-American first team spot another historic first

At the end of one of the most historic seasons of an Oklahoma Christian University athlete, junior John Moon broke another record without even lacing up his shoes.

The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) named Moon to the NCAA Division II Academic All-American first team, the first ever in Oklahoma Christian’s history to earn a spot on the first team. He is the only Eagle to make any Academic All-American team since Cary Manek’s second-team nomination in 1990.

“It’s nice to be able to look back on the season I had,” Moon said. “I’m blessed to be able to play here at OC with great fans, teammates and coaches.”

According to CoSIDA, members of the Academic All-American first team qualify by maintaining at least a 3.3 GPA on a 4.0 scale, be at least a sophomore in athletic classification, have legitimate athletic credentials and have been at their institution at least 12 months.

In the 2015-2016 season, Moon maintained a 3.9 GPA as an accounting major while earning several academic awards during the year including spots on the National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete list, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Honor Court, the Heartland Conference Honor Roll President’s List and being named recipient of the Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.

Moon led the Heartland Conference in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots for the season. His 70 blocked shots in the 2015-2016 season made his career 164 blocks a conference record and his 669 points of the season are the second-most in conference history.

He owns two of the top-10 single-game scoring performances of the season with 41 points against St. Edward’s University and a record-breaking 50-point game against Oklahoma Panhandle State University, in which he scored a perfect 20-for-20 from the field to tie two all-division records and break three school and three conference single-game records.