Teams: Men's Basketball: Press Releases

Thursday, February 8, 2007

SHEPHERD SELECTED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT FIRST TEAM

MEDFORD -- Senior co-captain and point guard David Shepherd (Grantham, NH/Proctor Academy) of the Tufts University men's basketball team has earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors for his accomplishments on the court and in class.

Shepherd is one of five players from New England and New York selected to the First Team. By virtue of this regional award, he is now on the ballot for Academic All-America honors. The nominations and voting is handled by the College Sports Information Directors' of American (CoSIDA).

A economics major with a minor in entrepreneurial leadership studies, Shepherd is a three-year starter and two-year captain for the Jumbos. This season, he is third in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with 5.75 assists per game and tenth with 1.45 steals per game. He had a career-high 13 assists in the Jumbos' win over Trinity on January 13, 2007. Shepherd is averaging 8.1 points per game, shooting a fine .482 percentage.

A leader of the team's run to the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" last year, "Shep" swished four free throws in the final 24 seconds at SUNY Cortland to seal the Jumbos' first trip to the NCAA round of 16. In a NESCAC Tournament semi-final win in overtime against Trinity, he led the Jumbos to the championship game by tallying a team-high 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, including the game-tying bucket to force the overtime session. He was also a flawless 11-for-11 from the charity stripe.

Recruited as a 2-guard, he has turned into one of the best point-guards in the conference. He led NESCAC with 6.69 assists per game in 2004-05. His 450 assists heading into the final week of the regular-season are fifth all-time at Tufts.

A 2006 NESCAC All-Academic Team member, Shepherd is a Dean's List student who has also been a Resident Assistant and member of Student Athlete Advisory Committee at Tufts. He was honorable mention recipient at Tufts Business Plan Competition in April 2006.

"Dave is one of the fiercest competitors on the floor at all times," Tufts head coach Bob Sheldon said. "He's the guy that makes our team go, and he lives to make the big play to win the game. He uses those attributes to succeed off the court as well, and he has a bright future in front of him."

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