EMCC’s Blake Butler tabbed NJCAA Division I Honorable Mention All-American

CHARLOTTE, NC – East Mississippi Community College's Blake Butler continues to reel in postseason accolades by earning honorable mention honors on the 2022-23 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball All-America Team. Selections were made by the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and announced this week by the national office headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.

Butler, from Louisville, Ky., posted 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 ranking 22^nd nationally among NJCAA Division I scoring leaders and third in the MACCC, Butler was EMCC's No. 2 rebounder and third-leading playmaker on the year (2.2 apg). 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.

Having twice been selected NJCAA All-Region 23 and All-MACCC First Team, Butler becomes East Mississippi's second men's basketball All-American in as many seasons. Current Tarleton State University junior forward Jakorie Smith, from Utica, Miss., capped his EMCC career as a three-time all-region and all-conference performer for the Lions by collecting honorable mention NJCAA All-America honors a year ago.

With four 30-point performances this past 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 past season. In addition, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound guard 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 in 2021-22 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. 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 while 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, 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 2019 Kentucky/Indiana All-Star Game.  

In addition to back-to-back recipients Butler and Smith the past two years, East Mississippi previously had five NJCAA All-America selections during a four-year span (2010-13) when the Lions claimed four consecutive NJCAA Region 23 Tournament championships en route to making successive NJCAA Tournament appearances. Jarekious Bradley earned first-team honors during the 2012-13 season, while current EMCC assistant men's basketball coach DJ Evans and Colin Borchert made the second and third teams, respectively, in 2011-12. Prior to that, CoCo Ware garnered first-team accolades in 2009-10 and Deonte Alexander was named honorable mention the following year in 2010-11.

Along with EMCC's Butler, other men's basketball players from MACCC member schools who earned NJCAA All-America recognition this past season were Copiah-Lincoln's Dylan Canoville (third team) and Christian Terrell of Meridian CC (honorable mention).