The Hillsdale College men's basketball team had an incredibly successful season on the court in 2019-20, earning a share of the Chargers' first Great Midwest Athletic Conference title in program history.
That excellence on the court didn't distract the Chargers from taking care of business in the classroom, however.
For the second straight season, Hillsdale's men's basketball team earned the Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the organization announced on Thursday morning.
In order to receive the honor, a team must achieve a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better for the previous season, including the grade point averages of all team members.
The Chargers easily exceeded that threshold in 2019-20, posting a 3.35 team GPA and boasting 12 athletes with a 3.5 or better GPA.
Hillsdale also was well represented on the 2019-20 NABC Honors Court, honoring individual college basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the previous season.
In order to be named to the Honors Court, a player must be a junior or senior, active on the varsity roster, and possess a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.
The Chargers had four players make the Honors Court for the 2019-20 season: graduated seniors Dylan Lowry, Mike Travlos and Noah Kalthoff, and junior Davis Larson.
It's Lowry's second straight season of earning a spot on the NABC Honors Court after also making the grade for the 2018-19 season. An Accounting major who graduated from Hillsdale this spring, Lowry earned first-team All-G-MAC honors and was the Chargers' second leading scorer this season, averaging 14.6 points per game.
A two-year starter at Hillsdale, Lowry became the 38th player in Charger history to surpass 1,000 points for his career this past season, and graduates 33rd all-time on the school scoring list.
Travlos, a Financial Management major who also graduated this past spring, was an important substitute for the Chargers throughout his career and played a key role in Hillsdale's G-MAC title this past winter, stepping into the starting lineup for the final seven games of the season and helping the Chargers clinch a share of the regular season crown.
Kalthoff, a Marketing Management major who graduated this past spring, served as a key emotional leader for the Chargers throughout his career, appearing in seven games and setting a new career high in points in 2019-20.
Larson, also a Financial Management major who will return for his senior year at Hillsdale this fall, was one of the team's go-to players in 2019-20, earning second-team All-G-MAC honors and finishing third on the team in scoring despite missing seven games with an injury. He'll be a key player for the Chargers in 2020-21 as Hillsdale looks for a repeat conference championship.