OC Sports
Murray Evans, Sports Information Director
WACO, Texas – Oklahoma Christian basketball standout John Moon was named Monday as the Heartland Conference’s male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, an award presented to student-athletes who excel both in the playing arena and in the classroom.
Moon, a senior from Crescent, is the first OC student-athlete ever to receive the Heartland honor since the university joined the conference before the 2012-13 academic year. Athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives at Heartland schools vote on the award, which is considered the highest honor bestowed by the conference.
In April, Moon was named as Mr. Eagle, the highest honor in OC athletics.
“John is one of the finest young men I have had the pleasure to be around in my 20 years in college athletics,” OC Athletic Director David Lynn said. “John not only led his team on the court, but also was outstanding in the classroom. He is among the most humble superstars I ever have met, one who consistently deflected praise he’d earned for his numerous accomplishments.
“John’s commitment to excellence extended to his support of his fellow student-athletes, as he often led contingents of students while attending softball, baseball and soccer games and cross country meets on or near the OC campus. John’s rare dominance on the court, combined with his outstanding leadership and academic accomplishments, make him the ideal representative of the Heartland Conference for this award.”
Moon completed one of the most impressive careers—both athletically and academically – in conference history. He became the first basketball player from the conference ever to be named to the prestigious Academic All-America first-team list by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), earning that honor in both 2016 and 2017.
He’s also one of only six Heartland players ever to make an All-America basketball team, having received honorable mention as a junior on lists produced by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association and Division II Bulletin. He was a first-team All-South Central Region selection by both the D2CCA and National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2016 and a second-team pick by both organizations in 2017.
At the conference level, he was a three-time All-Heartland selection, receiving first-team honors the past two seasons, when he was named as the league’s defensive player of the year. He made the All-Oklahoma Division II first-team list produced by the website OklahomaSports.net each of the past three seasons and was named as the state’s Division II player of the year in 2016.
Moon was a six-time Heartland player-of-the-week honoree (twice in 2016-17) and was named as the NCAA Division II player of the week once as a senior. He was HERO Sports’ Division II Hero of the Week three times during his career and received honorable mention as HERO Sports’ Division II Hero of the Year.
Moon posted three of the top 10 scoring games in Heartland history, topped by a 50-point outing against Oklahoma Panhandle State as a junior, during which he tied two NCAA all-division records by going 20-of-20 from the field. The 50 points broke both the OC and Heartland single-game scoring records.
On the Heartland’s career statistical lists, he finished No. 1 in blocked shots (237), No. 2 in rebounding (812) and No. 3 in scoring (1,881 points).
Moon, who graduated in April with a 3.937 grade-point average in accounting, also has earned numerous academic awards. In addition to the Academic All-America honors, he is a three-time recipient of the D2CCA Academic Achievement Award and has been recognized on the NABC’s Honors Court three times. He made the Heartland’s academic Honor Roll President’s List every semester of his college career.
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