D3hoops.com: Notables

By Matt Florjancic
D3sports.com

WADSWORTH, Ohio -- With Day Two action from the second-annual Collegiate Basketball Invitational underway, the focus for the eight Division III prospects turned from learning to play against different competition to showcasing the talent and heart small-school players bring to the court.

Hardin-Simmons center Mardochee Jean proved in his first game Thursday how important Division III players are in the world of competitive basketball. Jean scored 12 points and pulled down 13 rebounds en route to his Louis Perry and Associates Team collecting a 95-78 victory over MBM Logistechs.

The Thursday win gave Jean’s team a bye into the semifinals of the tournament, which began play Friday morning. Though his scoring numbers came down against the City of Wadsworth Team, Jean still made his presence known, hauling in nine rebounds, blocking one shot and handing out three assists in the 106-95 Louis Perry and Associates victory.

“By things I wanted to accomplish, No. 1 is rebounding,” Jean said following the semifinals. “That’s the biggest thing. I wanted to be able to average over double-digit rebounds. Everybody in here wants to score. That’s the main key to basketball in everybody’s mind.

“I figured I’d do the little things, get down on the floor, get some steals, block shots and get rebounds,” he added. “I think I’m doing (well) so far on the boards. I hope that at the end of the tournament, I can look back and see that I’ve averaged over double-digit boards per game.”

Courtesy of the win, Jean, the American Southwest Conference’s all-time leader in rebounds, blocks and double-doubles, was the only Division III player who advanced to the CBI championship. While he may have been the last player standing, Jean believes all of the Division III athletes represented well.

“To know that I’m the last one to stand going into the championship, that has me smiling right now,” Jean said. “Yesterday, I saw (James) Cooper from Wooster and he was not backing down at all. When he was shooting his shots, he was looking confident. He looked like everybody else. We blend in as some of the best players in the country. I think we show determination.

“Although we don’t have athletic scholarships, we can compete,” he added. “Those are schools we choose to go to. I feel like we can compete with almost everybody on the Division II level and the NAIA level. I saw Troy Ruths play yesterday and he was down there holding his own. I played against Ben Strong from Guilford. He was down there battling too. As a whole, I’m pretty proud to represent Division III in this tournament.”

In Friday’s final contest, Louis Perry and Associates fell 87-72 to Team First Merit. Individually, Jean had seven rebounds in the loss.

“I’ve never been at something like this in my life,” said Jean. “When I came here, I was amazed and tried to soak in the first two days. After that, it was time to take care of business in basketball. With all the good guys on the court, it’s amazing because there is no area that lacks. It’s the best players in the country. This will be an experience to remember.

“We look at our guys and move forward,” Jean added about why his team was successful in the CBI. “We don’t worry about everybody else. We’re playing hard. I have to give credit to my team also. I do the little things and they do everything. We get everybody involved. We have a
good nucleus.”

Strong played in his final CBI game late Friday afternoon. The two-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year finished the tournament with 21 points and five rebounds in a losing effort against Renacci-Doraty Chevrolet.

“It’s a great honor to be out here with some of the best players from NAIA I and II and Division II and III,” Strong said. “Division III doesn’t get a lot of respect. It’s nice to come out here and show some people that Division III guys can play ball as well.

“I’m not really sure where I’m going to end up, but whatever’s the best situation possible, that’s where I’m going to be,” Strong added about his future in basketball.

Another Division III player who wanted to make an impact in other statistical categories beside scoring was Aurora product Larry Welton. He joined Cooper on the Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital Team. The team struggled with shooting the basketball consistently in the second half of its final game Friday. Though they had a 23-point lead at halftime, Cooper’s 13 markers with Welton’s eight points and eight rebounds were not enough to secure a victory for their team.

“I wasn’t really worried about trying to come out and score 20 because everybody here is a good basketball player,” Welton said. “I wanted to contribute to my team, play hard and get a couple steals.

“Coop showed his outside guard game,” he added. “Coop (and I) did a real good job trying to play for all the D-III teams because there are a lot of good ball players down there. We just tried to come out and play hard.”

Now, Division III will wait until Saturday morning to see if any of the eight players are selected for the CBI All-Star Game. Twenty players get chosen to represent small-college basketball live on ESPNU Saturday night at 8:00PM. Despite good performances from the Division III players last year, only Tori Davis earned a roster slot in the All-Star Game.

2007 Collegiate Basketball Invitational Player Updates
College of Wooster All-American forward Tom Port is currently playing basketball in Ireland. After signing a contract to play for Team Thor in Iceland, Port continued his European basketball career in Ireland. Port plays for St. Paul’s, along with fellow D3hoops.com All-American, Matt Hilleary. A 6-foot-6 center, Hilleary played his college basketball for Catholic and was part of the Cardinals' 2001 national championship team.

Kerry Gibson is playing for the Baia Mare team in Romania’s 2nd Division. The 7-0 UW-Oshkosh standout started his professional career with Panevezys Techasas in the Baltic League. While in Lithuania, Gibson started five out of 11 games and averaged 3.6 points per game. On the defensive end of the floor, Gibson corralled 8.2 rebounds a game while sending away 1.4 shots each night.

Isaac Rosefelt used a productive career at St. Thomas (Minn.) to attract attention from Spain’s 3rd Division. According to Eurobasket.com, Rosefelt, the only American on the Salsa Musas roster, has scored 36 points in 93:05 minutes of action this season.