Men's Basketball Duo Earn NABC Academic Recognition

Junior Austin Nehls and sophomore Tyson Batiste of the Central Connecticut men's basketball team were recognized on the 2017-18 National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court it was announced Friday. The duo were both named to the Northeast Conference Winter Academic Honor Roll, as well as, the CCSU Spring 2018 Dean's List.

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Nehls, who majored in Finance, graduated in just three years with a 3.93 GPA and was named the 2017-18 NEC Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Nehls was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 1 First Team in two consecutive years and became the 37th player in program-history to score 1,000 career points. He ranks sixth all-time at Central with 206 career three-pointers and played in 90 career games, including 89 starts.

Batiste is a Management major and has been a member of the Dean's List in each of his first two years at Central. He appeared in 25 games in 2017-18 and made six starts, while playing nearly 20.0 minutes per game. He posted a 1.6 assist-turnover ratio and had a season-high seven assists with no turnovers at Fairleigh Dickinson on January 18. He also scored a season-high 11 points with five assists at LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 27.

The NABC honor recognizes men's collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts of the student-athletes off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. The qualifications are as follows: 

1. Academically a junior or senior and a varsity player. 
2. Cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year. 
3. Students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
4. Member of a NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Division I or II institution with a NABC member coach.