Only 11 nationwide made this team. St. Francis’ Chauncey Hawkins is one of them.

April 16, 2020 John Torenli

St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball junior guard Chauncey Hawkins added to his long list of athletic and academic honors this week at the Remsen Street school. Photo courtesy of SFC Brooklyn Athletics

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In local college sports news, St. Francis Brooklyn junior guard Chauncey Hawkins was selected to the 2020 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) 18th Annual Scholar-Athlete Team.

Hawkins, an accounting major who registered a 3.30 grade-point average this past season, became the second Terrier in as many years to receive the honor, joining since-graduated former teammate Glenn Sanabria.

Only 11 student-athletes from across the nation comprise the DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team and Hawkins was the lone student-athlete chosen from the Northeast Conference after helping Remsen Street’s Terriers reach the NEC Tournmanent last month.

“We are very proud of Chauncey for earning this prestigious academic honor in addition to his tremendous accomplishments on the court,” said SFC Head Coach and Brooklyn native Glenn Braica.

“He is an outstanding student-athlete in the process of working towards his Master’s degree in accounting,” Braica added. “This is a great achievement for him and his family as he continues to work extremely hard both on the court and in the classroom.”

Basketball players from all Division I-AAA ADA member institutions are eligible for these prestigious awards. Each of the nominees is required to maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.20 in undergraduate study and have been a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletics credentials.

Nominees must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games listed on the nomination form.

To be eligible for nomination to the Scholar-Athlete Team, a scholar-athlete must have reached junior academic standing at their respective institutions.

Hawkins is no stranger to athletic or academic honors.

He was named to the All-NEC Third Team for the first time in his career this year and was a member of the NEC Academic Honor Roll following his junior season.

The Spring Valley, N.Y., native finished the 2019-20 campaign averaging a team-best 15.1 points per game to go with 3.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per contest.

The 5-foot-8 dynamo ranked eighth in the NEC in scoring, eighth in assists per game, seventh in free-throw percentage (81.7 percent), tied for fourth in steals per game, and was tied for the 10th-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4) in the conference.

Hawkins reached double-digits in scoring a team-high 24 times this season and also poured in 20 or more points in a game a team-best nine times.

He also saved his best for last, amassing a career-best 38 points, including a school-record 19 free throws made, against Central Connecticut State in the Terriers’ regular-season finale on Feb. 29, becoming the first SFC men’s player to break the 30-point barrier since Yunus Hopkinson in 2017.

Hawkins, who led the Terriers with 23 points in their heartbreaking first-round loss to top-seeded Robert Morris in the NEC quarterfinals on March 4, also claimed his first-ever NEC Player of the Week honor last December.

Additionally, Hawkins was named the College Sports Madness NEC Player of the Week and was tabbed a Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Weekly Honorable Mention that week.

He has accumulated 1,005 points over the course of his career in Downtown Brooklyn thus far, becoming the 33rd member of the Terriers’ 1,000-point club in the Terriers’ 59-58 season-ending playoff loss to RMU.

A special Review Committee of Division I-AAA Athletics Directors were responsible for selecting the winners.

The 2020 Review Committee consisted of: Chris Reynolds (Committee Chair), Bradley University; Chasse Conque, UTRGV; Irma Garcia, St. Francis College Brooklyn; Phil Hutcheson, Lipscomb University; Robert Lineburg, Radford University; Joan McDermott, University of San Francisco; Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul University; Marianne Reilly, Manhattan College; and Kenneth Siegfried, Cal State Bakersfield.