Men's Basketball Sees Six All-Americans from Region 11
The NJCAA announced the All-American teams for Men's Basketball on Tuesday, with Region 11 seeing six players named from Division I and II.
Division I Men were headlined by Indian Hills' Don McHenry and Enoch Kalambay.
McHenry, the 2023 ICCAC Division I Men's Basketball Player of the Year, was tagged with First Team honors. The sophomore guard from Milwaukee, Wisc. transferred to Ottumwa this season from Hawaii-Hilo. This season, he led the Warriors in scoring at 15.4 points per game to go with 3.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Eleven times this season he notched 20 or more points in a game, with a season-high 35 coming against Highland (Ill.) on Jan. 21.
Kalambay, an Honorable Mention selection, was another steady performer for the Warriors this season. He averaged 12.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding at 6.6 per game. The sophomore was particularly good down the stretch for Indian Hills. In his final seven games he averaged 20 points per game, with a season-high coming in the team's biggest win of the season over Odessa (Texas) in the NJCAA quarterfinals.
The Warriors swept the conference regular season going 4-0 before falling to Southeastern in the Region 11 Championship game. McHenry and Kalambay powered Indian Hills through the NJCAA Tournament after receiving an at-large bid to the Final Four, their furthest run since 2014 when they were the NJCAA runners-up.
Joining Kalambay on Honorable Mention was Southeastern's Jaylen Searles. Searles averaged 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in 2022-23. The sophomore scored in double figures in 16 of the final 18 games of the season -- and was the Blackhawks' top performer in the NJCAA National Tournament. Searles and company helped lead SCC back to Hutch for the first time since 2011.
From Division II, three players were spread across all three teams.
The First Team selection was Jeremiah Burke of Iowa Lakes. The sophomore forward was named the 2023 ICCAC Division II Men's Basketball Player of the Year and powered Iowa Lakes to the NJCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. On the year, Burke averaged 14.6 pints and 9.9 rebounds per game -- a couple boards shy of a double-double. His rebounding figures put him in third in the nation in defensive rebounds (246) and seventh in total rebounds (335). He is the Lakers' first First Team selection since Justin Brookens back in 2020.
On the Second Team was Kirkwood's Noah King. The third-year guard was the ICCAC's fourth-leading scorer at 16.2 points per game, with the third-most points scored at 518. His 137 assists were tops in the conference and good for 35th in the country. Much of King's scoring came from the free throw line -- he made 128 free throws on the season which was good for 20th in NJCAA Division II.
The Third Team selection was Ellsworth's Shawn Fulcher. The Panthers' freshman guard became the fourth freshman since 2015 selected to an NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball All-American team. The dynamic playmaker averaged 16.8 points per game which was headlined by a 40-point performance in their regular season finale against NIACC.