Published: March 25, 2008 11:57 pm         

UPJ senior earns another accolade

The season may have ended last week for the Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball team, but Mountain Cats 6-foot-7 senior forward Chris Gilliam continues to receive post-season awards.

On Tuesday, Gilliam was named a Daktronics second-team All-American as selected by the NCAA Division II sports information directors.

The NCAA Division II team was dominated by seniors, with just three juniors among the 15 players honored and just three repeat players from last year’s team.

John Smith of Winona State (Minn.) University was named the 2008 Daktronics NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Player of the Year.

Earlier this month, Gilliam was chosen the Daktronics NCAA Division II East Region player of the year and was selected as a first-team member on the regional squad.

“It’s another accolade to add to his others,” UPJ coach Bob Rukavina said. “He’s had a tremendous career and one of the greatest things about him is that he’s such a hard worker and his attitude has not changed at all throughout his career. He always has the same demeanor and is just as humble now as he was when he was a freshman.”

Gilliam, the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Player of the Year, led UPJ to the West Virginia conference regular season championship, a spot in the NCAA East Region semifinals – losing to Millersville – and a 23-8 overall record.

The Baltimore native led the Mountain Cats in both scoring (19.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.6 rpg) and paced the WVIAC in field-goal percentage at 64.1 percent. His field-goal percentage ranks 12th in the country, points have him ranked 25th and rebounding is 47th.

Gilliam posted 10 double-doubles and led the Mountain Cats in scoring on 21 occasions and rebounding 20 times in 2007-08.

The Mountain Cats player was also named first team East Region by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and will compete in the NABC/NCAA Division II All-Star Game in Springfield, Mass., on Friday.

Gilliam is on pace to be one of the top 10 most accurate shooters in Division II history. Gilliam connected on 688 of 1047 (65.7 percent) field goals during his four-year stint with the Mountain Cats.

His 1,762 career points stands second on the all-time UPJ scoring list, while his 699 career rebounds are third on the Mountain Cats all-time rebounding list.

“These latest awards are probably some of the biggest of my career, and it doesn’t seem like reality to me,” Gilliam said. “I think it’s just another basketball award. I’ve been fortunate to have a great team that helped me in every way possible and there’s a great coaching staff at UPJ.”

     

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