2013-14 Capital One Academic All-America Award: Official Release

ROLLA, Mo. – Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), a senior on Missouri S&T's men's basketball team, has been selected as the Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for NCAA Division II as part of the Academic All-America team – of which he was selected to the first team --released today by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Foster is the fourth Missouri S&T student-athlete to earn the nation's top academic honor and first from the men's basketball program. Volleyball player Jennifer Costello earned the award following the 2012 season, while swimmers Jack Pennuto and Bill Gaul were the recipients of the award in 2004 and 2006, respectively.

A business and management systems major at MissourI S&T, Foster has been a member of Missouri S&T's Honor Roll and the Great Lakes Valley Conference's All-Academic team. Last month, he was selected to the Academic All-District squad for the NCAA Division II Midwest region.

"It feels amazing. I have never received an award of this caliber," Foster said. "It is a huge honor and I thank everyone who voted for me."

Foster currently ranks second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and 15^th in NCAA Division II in scoring with an average of 21.6 points a game, while shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and a team-best 82.4 percent at the free throw line. He also leads the team in three-point baskets with 56 – where he is shooting better than 34 percent on the season – and is pulling down seven rebounds a game, while adding in 50 assists, 28 steals and 14 blocked shots.

He has scored in double figures in 22 of the Miners' 23 games this season, while scoring 20 or more points 14 times and 25 of more on six occasions. He poured in a career-high 36 points earlier this year against Truman State and posted the school's first-ever triple double in a Dec. 8 win over Webster with 22 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists.

Foster has eight double-doubles this season, the fourth-most in the GLVC.

During his Missouri S&T career, Foster has moved up from 19^th to fourth on the school's all-time scoring list during the course of the 2013-14 season as his point total stands at 1,596 heading into the Miners' game Thursday at Rockhurst – which will be his school record-tying 110^th game as a Miner. The 1,596 points makes him the leading active scorer in the GLVC.

He is also third on the S&T career list for field goals made with 568, fifth in three-pointers with 187 and is in a position to move into the top ten for free throws made as he currently has 268. Foster needs only 10 points to reach the top 10 for points scored in a single season.

Foster has averaged in double figures in all four seasons he has played at Missouri S&T, leading the team in scoring as a freshman with 13 points a game and in his sophomore year at 14.9 per contest. He was second on the Miners in scoring during his junior season in 2011-12 with an average of 10.5 points a game – a year in which he scored his 1,000^th career point at S&T – then averaged 13.2 points in a 2012-13 campaign that was cut short after six games due to an injury.

With Foster's selection to the Capital One Academic All-America team, Missouri S&T now has earned 75 such awards in the program's history and 49 since 2000, the fifth-most of any school in NCAA Division II. He is the third Missouri S&T student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors this year and fifth in the history of the S&T men's basketball program to do so. Brian Westre was the last from the men's basketball team to earn the honor, winning it in the 2003-04 season.

Comment from Missouri S&T head coach Jim Glash:

"It is a great honor that Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) has been named the Capital One Academic All-America of the Year award winner for NCAA Division II. Three previous Missouri S&T student-athletes have received this prestigious honor over the past several years and Bryce is the first from our men's basketball program. All of us that represent Missouri S&T basketball are proud of what Bryce has accomplished.

"Since his arrival on campus in the 2009 fall semester, Bryce has exemplified how a true student-athlete should conduct oneself academically, athletically and socially. He has handled successes and failures, on and off the court, with an ever-developing level of maturity. A season-ending injury in the fall of 2012 neither detoured him from continuing to be our team leader nor from accomplishing a straight-A average in the classroom.

"In his senior season, Bryce has continued to provide our younger players with an almost perfect example of how to work for successes, both academically and athletically. Most importantly, his determination to meet and succeed all academic obligations at Missouri S&T has allowed him to set himself up to be very successful in his future professional endeavors. Congratuations, Bryce Foster (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central)."