March 7, 2005

The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball player Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) was honored with a selection to the Academic All-Independent team announced on Monday (Mar. 7).

Montalvo earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from UTPA in May of 2004 and currently is enrolled in graduate classes for Counseling where he possesses a 3.667 grade point average.

A fixture in the UTPA lineup for four years, Montalvo has competed in 105 games in his career with the Broncs. This past season, he averaged 8.2 points per game and led the team in assists, steals and minutes played. He surpassed career-highs in 15 statistical categories during the 2004-05 campaign and ranked second among all NCAA Division I Independent players in assists per game and seventh in steals per game.

In June of 2004, Montalvo was one of two NCAA student-athletes to be honored at the NACDA Convention in Dallas, TX, with the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance Sportsmanship Award.

The Academic All-Independent men's basketball team was selected by the Sports Information Director of Independent institutions. Nominations were accepted for student-athletes who had at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, had reached at least a sophomore athletic standing and was a starter or key reserve for each team.

NCAA Division I Independent men's basketball team include UTPA, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Utah Valley State, UC - Davis, IPFW, Longwood, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Savannah State and Northern Colorado.

UTPA Sports Information