Story by- Muskingum Athletics Communication
The Ohio Athletic Conference has announced that Muskingum men's basketball junior guard Marcus Dempsey has been named the OAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month for January.
Dempsey, a business management major from Zanesville, has performed at an extremely high level on the basketball court and in the classroom. His commitment, drive, and passion for being the best on and off the court has shown throughout his tenure at Muskingum. He is a three-time captain for the Muskies and ended his freshman campaign being honored as the OAC Freshman of the Year and the D3hoops.com Great Lakes Region Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore, Dempsey set the Muskingum record for points in a game with his 57-point performance against Oberlin and was recognized twice as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division III Men's National Player of the Week. He ended his second year being honored with CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American accolades.
"Marcus is a tremendous student-athlete and young man," said Muskingum Head Coach Travis Schwab. "He's in the gym for countless hours and puts in a ton of time working on his craft as a basketball player while also putting in the same amount of time and work on his academics. Marcus truly exemplifies what it means to be a Muskie."
Dempsey's junior year was cut short by an early-season injury, but he remained an integral part of the team by mentoring his teammates and assisting with game-day preparations. Throughout this season, Dempsey has consistently been ranked at the top of the conference and nation in scoring and is currently ranked fourth all-time in scoring at Muskingum with 1,561 points. Throughout his outstanding career, he has garnered multiple OAC Player of the Week honors and is a two-time All-OAC and Great Lakes Region selection. Dempsey has also continued to excel in the academic arena and has been a great example of what it means to be a student-athlete. He has been named to the Academic All-OAC Honor Roll twice and was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court. His leadership and commitment in the classroom and towards his academics have always been admired by his coaches, teammates, and colleagues at Muskingum.
"Marcus has his priorities in the right order with his academics coming first and basketball second. He continually proves that you can be successful on and off the court," said Coach Schwab. "If you put in the time and effort, good things will happen, and Marcus is a true example of that, and everyone, including his coaches and teammates, notice it."
The OAC Scholar-Athlete award honors an exceptional student-athlete every month. Criteria for the award consists of the student-athlete being of sophomore, junior, or senior status, competition in a sport that is in-season, sportsmanlike conduct and carrying at least a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.