East Mississippi’s Blake Butler repeats as All-MACCC First Team hoops honoree

JACKSON – East Mississippi Community College's Blake Butler has been selected to the All-MACCC Men's Basketball First Team for the second straight year after ranking as the conference's third-leading scorer this past season. The 2022-23 All-MACCC men's and women's basketball teams, as voted on by conference head coaches, were announced Thursday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

Having taken advantage of the NJCAA's previous COVID-19 ruling that granted student-athletes an extra year collegiate eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, Butler opted to return to East Mississippi for his third season. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound guard made the most of his opportunity by posting career-high scoring (20.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg) averages this past year for head coach Billy Begley's 20-6 EMCC Lions team. Along with currently ranking 20^th nationally among NJCAA Division I scoring leaders, Butler was EMCC's No. 2 rebounder and third-leading playmaker on the year with an average of 2.2 assists per game. He also shot a career-best 45 percent overall from the field in 2022-23 as well as connecting on 33 percent from three-point range and 74 percent from the charity stripe.

With four 30-point performances this season, including a career-high, 45-point effort at Northwest Mississippi in November that earned him NJCAA Division I Player of the Week honors, Butler also garnered MACCC Player of the Week recognition twice this season. In addition, the Louisville, Ky., native collected a spot on the 2023 NJCAA Region 23 All-Tournament Team for helping lead the Lions to their first semifinal-round regional tournament appearance since 2016.

While having totaled 1,117 points (16.0 ppg), 367 rebounds (5.2 rpg), 174 assists (2.5 apg), 65 steals and 53 blocked shots during his 70 career EMCC games (64 starts) over the past three seasons, Butler also posted career shooting percentage of 44 percent from the field overall, 34 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and 74 percent from the free throw line. As a three-year starter for East Mississippi, he helped lead the Lions to a 52-19 (.732) composite record, including 20-win seasons each of the past two years that saw EMCC claim the 2022 MACCC Tournament championship followed by this year's third-place MACCC finish in the regular-season conference standings.

A three-time, all-conference performer for EMCC, Butler was previously selected All-MACCC First Team and NJCAA All-Region 23 a season ago after averaging 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest for the 21-7 Lions. He 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. Butler earned his first of three career MACCC Player of the Week awards last year after averaging a team-leading 17.7 points as well as 8.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the Lions' successful three-day run through the 2022 MACCC Tournament. He also connected on 56 percent (19-34 FGs) of his field goal attempts for the week, including 10-of-18 (56%) accuracy from beyond the three-point arc.

As a 14-game starter during his freshman season for the EMCC Lions, Butler collected second-team honors on the 2020-21 All-MACCC/North Division squad after averaging 12.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per outing. 

Prior to his three-year collegiate career on the Scooba campus, Butler was named the 2018-19 Sixth Region Player of the Year by Louisville's Courier Journal newspaper after averaging 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game as a senior at Jeffersontown High School. He capped his prep career by participating in the Kentucky/Indiana All-Star Game.