COWLEY, COLBY DOMINATE POSTSEASON DIVISION I HONORS
By Steve Carpenter
KJCCC Sports Information Division I Basketball Chair
Link to D1 Basketball All_Conference Teams (printable PDF)
Jayhawk East champion Cowley and Jayhawk West champion Colby earned six of the eight major awards this season in the 2020 KJCCC Division I Men's Basketball Postseason awards.
Demarcus Sharp of Colby was named both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the Western Division. Trojan head coach Rusty Elmore was named the West's Coach of the Year.
Cowley snagged Coach of the Year honors with Tommy DeSalme, Freshman of the Year with Dalen Ridgnal and Defensive Player of the Year in Deng Bol.
Coffeyville sophomore Meikkel Murray was named the Jayhawk East Player of the Year and Hutchinson's Josh Baker was the Jayhawk West Freshman of the Year.
DEMARCUS SHARP – West Player of the Year; West Defensive Player of the Year
Before the season, nobody thought Colby would contend in the West in 2020. After back-to-back triple-doubles by Sharp in November, teams became acutely aware that the Trojans were in the title chase for the duration.
Sharp has an exceptional season for Colby.
He was the KJCCC's 10th-leading scorer at 15.9 points per game. Sharp shot 45.9 percent from the floor, was fifth in the league from 3-point range at 42.9 percent and shot 78.3 percent from the foul line.
Sharp was second in the KJCCC in assists (164) and steals (79) and he posted a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Sharp was even better in conference play at 17.3 points per game.
He had triple doubles against Iowa Western and the Sterling JV. He added three more double-doubles.
MEIKKEL MURRAY – East Player of the Year
Last season's Jayhawk East Freshman of the Year is this season's Jayhawk East Player of the Year.
Murray is the KJCCC's sixth-leading scorer at 16.9 points per game. He shot 51.3 percent overall – that's usually in the league's Top 10 most seasons, but this season it ranks 20th. He is the league's fifth-leading rebounder at 7.6 boards per game. Down the stretch, Murray has powered Coffeyville's late-season surge averaging 18.9 points per game.
Murray is shooting 25.0 percent from 3-point range and 68.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Murray has scored in double figures in 28 of 30 games this season with a high of 28 points against Cowley on February 5. Murray had 10 double-doubles this season.
RUSTY ELMORE – West Coach of the Year
Colby was picked sixth in the Jayhawk West predicted order of finish this season. So much for predictions.
Under their first-year head coach, Elmore's Trojans ran away from the field and won the Jayhawk West by four games over second-place Barton. In fact, the Trojans went 14-0 against the Jayhawk West alone this season.
Not using a lot of depth, Elmore had a sophomore-dominated squad that played team ball.
Colby averaged 87.7 points per game (fourth in KJCCC) and shot 48.1 percent (third in KJCCC).
Defensively, the Trojans are No. 2 in scoring defense at 68.4 points per game allowed, second in steals at 9.9 percent and second in blocked shots at 4.8 per game.
TOMMY DESALME – East Coach of the Year
Like Colby, Cowley was not the preseason Jayhawk East favorite, but early on, the Tigers showed championship form with a high-octane offense not seen in the KJCCC in some time.
DeSalme's Tigers not only led the KJCCC in scoring offense this season, but led the entire NJCAA with a gaudy 110.7 points per game this season. The Tigers broke 100 points 24 times this season including 15 times scoring over 110 points, 10 times over 120 points, three times better than 130 points and a season-high 143 points against Cloud County on February 10.
The Tigers average 12.9 made 3-pointers per game, third most in the NJCAA. They get off more shot attempts than any team in the KJCCC casting better than 85 shots per game. The Tigers shoot 47.1 percent as a team, 35.3 percent from 3-point range and 68.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Cowley also leads the KJCCC in rebounding (45.7 rpg), assists (19.9 apg) and steals (15.2 spg).
JOSH BAKER – West Freshman of the Year
The Blue Dragon freshman guard is the top 3-point shooting in the KJCCC the season.
Baker is on pace to break the Hutchinson single-season efficiency record from 3-point range, currently at 50.4 percent for the season, making 71 of 141 attempts from distance. Baker has one game of seven 3-pointers, coming in a season-high 29-point output against Independence on November 30.
Baker is Hutchinson's second-leading scorer at 13.8 points per game. He is shooting 51.7 percent overall with seven games of 20 or more points.
DALEN RIDGNAL – East Freshman of the Year
The Cowley Freshman forward has been a dominant player on both ends of the floor this season for the high-powers Tigers.
Offensively, Ridgnal is ninth in the league in scoring at 16.1 points per game. He shoots 48.4 percent overall, has made 40 of 121 3-pointers (33.1 percent) and shoots 73.5 percent from the foul line.
Ridgnal also leads the KJCCC in rebounding (10.3 boards per game) and is third in blocked shots with 52. Ridgnal has 16 double-doubles this season, with highs of 29 points against Allen and 17 rebounds against Dodge City.
DENG BOL – East Defensive Player of the Year
The sophomore Cowley guard had 46 steals and 23 blocked shots this season for the Tigers. He helped lead a Cowley defense that forced 26.7 turnovers per game and fueled its up-tempo attack.
DIVISION II MEN
MAJOR AWARDS SPLIT AMONG KJCCC D2 TEAMS
By Steve Carpenter
KJCCC Sports Information Directors Association
Link to D2 Basketball All-Conference Teams (printable PDF)
After a hotly contested regular season, the KJCCC Division II men's postseason awards reflect that as three different teams are represented by the four different major awards in 2020.
Johnson County's JaQuaylon Mays was named the conference's Player of the Year for Division II. Highland's Marquise Milton was the Freshman of the Year. The conference champion Kansas City Blue Devils are represented by the league's Defensive Player of the Year, Robert Rhodes and Coach of the Year Brandon Burgette.
JAQUAYLON MAYS, PLAYER OF THE YEAR
The KJCCC's second-leading scorer this season, Mays was Johnson's County's leading scorer at 17.0 points per game. He was a multi-time Division II KJCCC Player of the Week.
Mays shot 53.7 percent from the field (sixth in the KJCCC) and was the conference's second-best 3-point shooter at 39.8 percent (35 of 88). He shot 70.3 percent from the foul line. May averaged 6.6 rebounds, and was third in the league with 4.4 assists per game. Mays led the KJCCC with 62 steals.
Mays scored in double figures in 25 of 28 games with a high of 30 points against North Central Missouri. He had three double-doubles this season.
BRANDON BURGETTE, COACH OF THE YEAR
Burgette guided the Blue Devils to a conference title in his first season in the program. The Devils went 16-13 overall, but won the league with an 8-2 mark.
Burgette's first year started off a bit rough, going just 2-8 in the first 10 games of the season. But the Blue Devils closed the regular season on a march of 14 wins and five losses.
The Blue Devils were the second-highest scoring team in Division II this season at 83.3 points per game. The Devils were No. 1 in the league in 3-point shooting at 36.6 percent as a team. They shot 46.2 percent for the season (second in KJCCC). KCK led the league in assists with 16.2 per game.
ROBERT RHODES, DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Rhodes led the KJCCC in blocked shots with 59 rejections this season. He had 23 blocks in conference-only games. Rhodes was also fifth in the league in steals with 39.
Where Rhodes made his biggest impact was on the boards. Rhodes was the KJCCC's Division II rebounding leader at 9.3 rebounds per game. He also led the league in offensive rebounds with 97.
MARQUISE MILTON, FRESHMAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Starting in 22 of 27 games, Milton put together a strong first season for the Highland Scotties. He was Highland's as well as the KJCCC's leading scorer at 17.7 points per game.
He shot 48.0 percent from the field, 34.3 percent from 3-point range and is the fourth-leading free-throw shooter in the league at 80.7 percent.
Milton had 14 games of 20 or more points, including a stretch of seven-straight games of 20 or more points with a high of 33 points against Metropolitan Community College.