OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Northwestern State senior guard Michael McConathy is among 30 elite men's basketball Division I scholar-athletes nationally chosen as semifinalists for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, including players from defending national champion North Carolina, Duke, Texas, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and Villanova.

The group will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the season. The award recognizes student-athletes who excel in classroom achievement, community service, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the epitome of the student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Last year's men's basketball winner was Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina. Among this year's nominees are Naismith Award watch list members Da'Sean Butler of West Virginia, Devan Downey of South Carolina, Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, Damion James of Texas, Gonzaga's Matt Bouldin, Jerome Randle of Cal, Villanova's Scottie Reynolds and Tyler Smith of Tennessee.

McConathy, who graduated cum laude last spring with a 3.6 grade point average in industrial engineering technology, had his best season last year with averages of 8.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals. He was fifth in the Southland Conference in assists, second in free throw percentage and eighth in steals -- leading Northwestern in a statistic in which it ranked 20th nationally.

He already ranks eighth in school history with 297 career assists, and if he can maintain his 80.3 percent career free throw aim will finish eighth all-time at Northwestern in that category.

Last season, McConathy posted 12 double-figure scoring games, leading the Demons in scoring four times. He has 44 career starts in 96 career games and helped the Demons reach the 2007 and 2008 Southland Conference Tournament championship games, where they fell both times by three points in bids to make the program's third NCAA Tournament appearance under his father.

McConathy was a redshirt on the Demons' 2006 NCAA Tournament team that beat 15th-ranked Iowa in the first round and went 26-8 on the season, winning the conference regular-season and tournament titles.

The 5-9 guard from Natchitoches and St. Mary's High School can become a four-year Academic All-Southland selection this season while pursuing a second degree, business administration, to go with his industrial engineering technology diploma.

McConathy was chosen by the faculty last April to receive the Dr. Walter J. Robinson Award, given annually to the junior or senior student in the Department of Engineering Technology who best exhibits scholarship, leadership and integrity.

McConathy was a 2008-09 CoSIDA Academic All-District VI first-team member and a two-year member of the All-Southland Conference Academic team (2007-08 and 2008-09). He was a second-team member of the Academic All-Southland Conference team during the 2006-07 season. Additionally, McConathy has been a Dean's List honoree four times and an Honor Roll member three times.

He is also a Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll member four years running since his true freshman season in the 2005-06 season when he was redshirted. McConathy was the Northwestern State Freshman Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2005-06 with the highest grade point average among all freshman males.

He continued to earn accolades from the school in 2008-09 when he was named Northwestern State Male Student-Athlete of the Year, based on scholarship, leadership and community activism characteristics.

McConathy has been a huddle leader for five years for Northwestern's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and has been involved with FCA's National Leadership College Conference on an annual basis. He was awarded the FCA Leadership Award for North Louisiana in 2007, which encompassed nominees from nine universities.

McConathy was Northwestern's male nominee for the Southland Conference Steve McCarty Citizenship Award, presented on the basis of community and campus activism, leadership, character and scholarship. In addition, McConathy is a three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

He was active in hurricane relief efforts on the Northwestern campus after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the south in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008. He helped move bedding and other vital materials into an American Red Cross shelter in the Northwestern practice facility and then made repeated visits to evacuees, some who remained on campus for more than a month.

Additionally, McConathy has volunteered at free basketball clinics for area youth, including an annual two-week summer camp hosted by his church. McConathy is a team leader in other community and campus cleanup activities.

His father, Mike McConathy, is his head coach for the Demons and his younger brother Logan is a junior guard at Northwestern. It's only the second time in the modern era of Division I college basketball that two sons have played on the same team with their father as head coach.

A list of the 30 semifinalists and their credentials can be found on the www.seniorCLASSaward.com website.

Shreveport product Alana Beard won the Lowe's Senior CLASS women's basketball award in 2004 and LSU's Semoine Augustus was the women's winner in 2006. Lady Demon senior guard Lyndzee Greene was nominated for the 2009-10 women's honor.