Basketball Update

By Jim Richards

Tyrone Kelley and Dave Cuen were both instrumental in getting SMCC to its first NJCAA national tournament this season and they went out in the same manner.

Kelley scored nine points and Cuen had eight with seven rebounds in the Arizona All-Stars’ 101-97 upset victory over the NJCAA Division I All-Stars in the NJCAA National Men’s Basketball All-Star Game at Scottsdale Community College Sunday afternoon.

SMCC head coach Dan Nichols also was instrumental as he coached the Arizona All-Stars along with Arizona Western head coach Kelly Green. Both coaches were ACCAC Co-Coaches of the Year last season while Cuen (first team) and Kelley (third) were NJCAA All-Americans.

“Wasn’t that great?” Nichols beamed after the game.

With two wins in three games at the NJCAA-II basketball tournament, the Cougars finished in seventh place nationally and were the only ACCAC to team to hold a top-10 national ranking throughout most of the season.

Eastern Arizona finished fifth at the NJCAA-I tournament, but, along with Arizona Western, were barely able to crack the top-20 rankings all season.

The opinion around the ACCAC was that the NJCAA didn’t have a lot of respect for basketball being played in the ACCAC.

The NJCAA-I All-Stars featured Junior College Player of the Year Devron Bostick out of Southwestern Illinois, who is headed for the University of Minnesota, Hutchinson’s Bobby Maze (Maryland) and Tyler CC’s Jamie VanderBeeken (Northern Iowa) and held an eight-point lead at the half before the Arizona All-Stars rallied.

Mesa CC’s John Pena (Northern Colorado) was named the Player of the Game after netting a game-high 26 points with seven rebounds. Western’s Sean Amide and Medhi Cheriet each scored 15 points and Cochise’s Dynile Forbes added 13.

Salt Lake’s Brian Green led the DI All-Stars with 20 points and Bostick added 19.

The All-Star game is in its first year in Arizona and third overall.