ORLANDO – For the third time in four years, Carson-Newman men's basketball has had a player earn Google Cloud Academic All-District honors.

Carson-Newman senior combo guard/forward Mason Bates (Cookeville, Tenn.) earns Google Cloud Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the organization announced Thursday.

Bates joins two-time honoree Sawyer Williams as players to be honored by the organization since Chuck Benson took over as head coach. 

"Mason has been a consistent performer both on and off the court here in his time at Carson-Newman," Benson said. "We're thankful that he's being recognized for a combination of those skills here in his senior year."

Bates is a fifth-year senior and business major with a 3.67 GPA.

The Cookeville, Tenn.-native ranks second on the team in scoring this year with a career-best 13.5 points per game scoring average.

Bates has 49 career double-digit scoring efforts, including six consecutive.  The senior turned in a 26-point effort from the field against Lander to match a career high in the second game of the season. 

He has four 20-point scoring efforts this year.  The Eagles are 3-1 in such games.

With a hook shot against Coker, Bates became the 27th member of Carson-Newman's 1,000-point club. Bates presently sits at 1,038 points for his career.

The senior has been efficient and effective around the rim, shooting 45 percent from the field.  Bates is second in the SAC in free throw shooting.  He's knocked down 104-of-123 free throw attempts, an 84.6 percent clip.

Bates is the 20^th player in school history to make at least 100 free throws in a single season.

Bates and the rest of the Eagles are in action Saturday against No. 10 Queens. Tipoff with the Royals is set for 4 p.m. Pregame coverage starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.

Name                                           School                                                                 Yr.     GPA            Major

Mason Bates                              Carson-Newman University                            Sr.     3.67            Business Administration

Andrew Boynton                        Anderson University                                         Sr.     3.93            Business / Financial Economics

Ben Ferguson                            Belmont Abbey College                                   Sr.     3.72            Accounting

Luke Gibson                               Newberry College                                             Jr.      3.98            Accounting

Caleb Hodnett                            Tusculum University                                         Jr.      3.73            Biology

Chapin Rierson                          Georgia College                                                So.    3.84            Accounting