Chad Barnes can add another award to his resume.

Barnes, who led the Loyola basketball team this season in scoring and rebounding, was named this week as an All-American honorable mention by the NAIA.

“I was certainly happy for Chad and for our program,” said head coach Jerry Hernandez. “On the other hand, I was a little disappointed because…Chad should have been higher.”

Barnes, normally modest to a fault, agreed.

“I was happy to get the award and everything,” Barnes said. “But I wish I could have been first-team.”

There certainly is an argument for it.

Playing more than 36 minutes a game, the 6-foot-4-inch swingman led the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference in scoring (21.6 points-per-game) and three-point shooting (43.2 percent).

He set the Loyola single-season record with 690 total points and was named to the All-GCAC team.

On January 18 against William Carey in the Den, Barnes had one of the best performances ever by any player in GCAC history.

Locked in a thrilling duel with Crusader star guard Jaeson Maravich, Barnes emerged as the bigger talent.

In only 31 minutes, he torched the Crusaders for a conference-record 48 points on 17-of-24 shooting – including a Loyola-record 11-of-14 on three-pointers – while grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out five assists.

Maravich finished with 40 points, six rebounds and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes. For the season, Pistol Pete’s son averaged 19.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

Maravich, however, was named a second-team all-American.

Hernandez and Barnes were left shaking their heads.

“I’m kind of surprised, because if [SUNO guard] Toshay [Harvey, also named second-team] or Jaeson Maravich made it, I should have been up there,” he said. “But maybe it had something to do with our record this season.”

The Wolfpack finished 4-28 overall, and just 1-14 – good for dead last in the GCAC.

“If it had anything to do with just play, I don’t see why I’m not on the first team,” he said.

Hernandez vowed to get some answers.

“I’m going to bring it up at the conference meetings,” he said, “because I don’t see how anybody in that conference could say that Maravich is better than Chad.”

(Gillian Dicker)