EMCC’s Smith and Butler collect NJCAA All-Region 23 men’s basketball honors

SCOOBA — East Mississippi Community College standouts Jakorie Smith and Blake Butler have been named to the 2021-22 NJCAA All-Region 23 Men's Basketball Team, as voted on by the men's basketball coaches from the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) and the Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference (LCCAC).

As the two leading scorers from this season's MACCC Tournament championship team, Smith is a three-time, all-region performer for the EMCC Lions. This is Butler's first year on the all-region squad after joining Smith on this year's All-MACCC First Team.

Having taken advantage of the NJCAA's COVID-19 ruling that granted student-athletes an extra year of collegiate eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, Smith returned to EMCC for his third season and made the most of his opportunity. The Utica native averaged a team-leading and career-high 17.7 points per game this past season and also led the Lions with an average of 7.9 rebounds per contest to rank sixth and 10^th, respectively, in the MACCC. In shooting 46 percent overall from the field along with posting career-best shooting percentages from three-point range (37%) and the charity stripe (85%), Smith helped lead the 21-7 Lions to their second conference tournament championship in four years and a berth in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament quarterfinals. The 6-foot-6 forward capped his productive three-year EMCC career by pouring in a career-high 36 points during the Lions' 76-73 overtime home loss to LSU Eunice in being named to this year's NJCAA Region 23 All-Tournament team.

As a three-year starter in helping lead head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions to a composite overall record of 48-22 (.686) and conference mark of 28-11 (.718), Smith scored 1,075 career points (15.8 ppg) along with totaling 548 rebounds (8.1 rpg), 97 assists, 96 steals and 39 blocked shots. His career shooting percentages were 47.4 percent overall from the field, 34.8 percent from beyond the three-point arc and 79.7 percent from the free throw line. Smith also recorded 21 career double-doubles during his 68-game EMCC playing career.

Coming out of Raymond High School in 2019 as a member of three Class 4A state championship teams, Smith averaged 15.2 points and a career-high 8.4 rebounds per contest as an EMCC freshman. He then averaged 13.3 points and 7.7 rebounds an outing during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season to repeat as a first-team member of the conference's All-North Division squad.

As a first-time member of the NJCAA All-Region 23 team, Butler averaged 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest this past season. The Louisville, Ky., native also shot 43 percent overall from the field, including 37 percent from three-point range, and 77 percent from the charity stripe in 2021-22.

A two-time, all-conference selection, Butler was named the MACCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week after averaging a team-leading 17.7 points as well as 8.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals during the Lions' successful three-day run through the 2022 MACCC Tournament played in Poplarville. The 6-foot-5 guard also connected on 56 percent (19-34 FGs) of his field goal attempts for the tournament, including 10-of-18 accuracy (56%) from beyond the three-point arc.

With previous per-game averages of 12.1 points and 4.4 rebounds during the 2020-21 season in earning second-team, all-league honors, Butler has averaged 13.6 points, 4.7 boards and 2.6 assists an outing during his EMCC career. Having started 39 of his 45 games with the Lions, he has totaled 610 career points as well as 212 rebounds, 118 assists, 37 blocks and 35 steals. Butler also owns career shooting percentages of 43 percent overall from the field, 35 percent from three-point territory and 74 percent from the free throw line.

The rest of the 11-member 2021-22 NJCAA All-Region 23 Men's Basketball Team includes: Isaiah Payne (LSU Eunice); Meridian's duo of Brandon Ellington and Christian Terrell; Melvion Flanagan (Mississippi Gulf Coast); Northeast Mississippi's tandem of Zeke Cook and Kylan Blackmon; and Pearl River's trio of Jaronn Wilkens, Earl Smith Jr., and Cameron Brown. For their all-region recognition, all 11 players now qualify for 2021-22 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball All-America consideration.