NJCAA Tournament-bound EMCC Lions collect postseason all-region and all-state basketball accolades
As they prepare for next week's NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in Hutchinson, Kansas, East Mississippi Community College's sophomore trio of Jahyde Gardiner, Juan Davis Jr. and Daniel Simmons have collected postseason individual honors for the Lions. As voted on by the head men's basketball coaches of Region 23 and the MACJC, the postseason teams were officially released Monday by the Jackson-based Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges.
SCOOBA – As they prepare for next week's NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in Hutchinson, Kansas, East Mississippi Community College's sophomore trio of Jahyde Gardiner, Juan Davis Jr. and Daniel Simmons have collected postseason individual honors for the Lions. As voted on by the head men's basketball coaches of Region 23 and the MACJC, the postseason teams were officially released Monday by the Jackson-based Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges.
Earning an NJCAA tournament bid for the fifth time in the last seven years, the 22nd-seeded EMCC Lions also found out Monday that they will open tournament play next Tuesday (March 15) against No. 11 seed Ranger (Texas) College in a noon (CT) tip-off at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Gardiner, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, heads the list for first-year head coach Billy Begley's 20-8 EMCC Lions by garnering NJCAA All-Region 23 as well as MACJC All-State/North Division First Team recognition. West Point's Davis earned second-team all-state laurels while also joining Simmons on the NJCAA All-Region 23 Tournament team after leading East Mississippi to the championship contest of last week's region tournament in Clinton.
As one of 10 players selected to the 2015-16 NJCAA All-Region 23 squad, Gardiner is averaging 14.0 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game on the season. The two-time all-state selection for the Lions is also shooting 47 percent from the field, including 37 percent from three-point range, and 70 percent from the charity stripe heading into the national tournament. The Tennessee-Martin signee has also registered six double-doubles on the year to give him 17 for his two-year EMCC career. In addition, Gardiner is averaging 1.8 assists an outing as a sophomore and has been credited with 27 blocks and 20 steals.
Davis, a product of West Point High School, averages 11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and a team-high 1.4 blocks per contest for the Kansas-bound Lions. For the year, he is shooting a club-best 56 percent from the field, including 16 made 3-pointers, and 67 percent from the line. Having started all 28 games this season, Davis averaged 15.0 points, while shooting 58 percent from the field and 79 percent from the stripe, along with 6.3 rebounds to earn all-region tournament laurels last week.
Simmons, from Biggersville, joined Davis on last week's NJCAA All-Region 23 Tournament squad after averaging a team-best 21.0 points along with 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals during the tournament. The team's leading scorer (15.6 ppg) and No. 3 rebounder (5.8 rpg) on the year scored 26 and 22 points in respective region tournament wins over Mississippi Gulf Coast and Southern-Shreveport a week ago in Clinton.
As runners-up in last week's region tournament , the East Mississippi Lions earned this year's bid to the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship as a zone qualifier from District XV/Region 23. Guided by Billy Gillispie, former coach at Kentucky, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and UTEP, Ranger College made this year's 24-team field as one of four at-large teams receiving invitations to the six-day, single-elimination tournament. The EMCC-Ranger winner will advance to meet another at-large team, Eastern Florida State College, coached by former EMCC assistant Jeremy Shulman, Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT in second-round action.