The Area Men Competing in NCAA Division II Basketball-The Names and the Impressive Numbers
There are 157 men from Missouri and Kansas who have gotten on DII basketball rosters. And that was just their first achievement. Take a look to see how they are performing.
When our area grads arrive at DII basketball, they excel in all phases of the game. And as you will see, they don’t always defer to upperclassmen when it comes to getting things done. Before we look at some superlatives, please scroll up and subscribe. It’s free, and it will help a lot. And I will appreciate it. And while you are at it, you can refer this to a friend!
There are 14 area men leading their DII team in scoring. But no one is scoring more than Stevie Strong (Campus/Newman Univ.). The Jet is flying high with 18.0 points/game. Not only is that the team high, but Stevie leads the Midamerican Intercollegiate Athletic Association in scoring. The highest scoring freshman continues to be Bennett Stirtz (Liberty/Northwest Missouri State) who is scoring at a 12.8 points per game clip. Bennett is being challenged for freshman scoring honors by Logan Applegate (Nevada/Drury Univ.) who is leading his Panther teammates with 12.7 points/game. Sophomore Andrew Orr (Blue Valley North/Washburn Univ.) has an Ichabod leading 13.9 points/game. That is due in great part by his MIAA leading 60.75% shooting from the field.
Deshaun English II (Pittsburg/Pittsburg State) lead all area grads with 9.9 rebounds per game to go with his Gorilla leading 14.5 points/game. After 22 games, Deshaun is only 3 boards away from averaging a double/double. Those 9.9 rebounds is the second highest average in his conference.
Did I mention freshmen performing early? Yes, I did. Here is why. Not only does freshman Xavier Hall (Bishop Miege/Truman State) lead his team with 3.92 assists per game, he also leads the Great Lakes Valley Conference. He isn’t the only rookie dishing out the ball. Freshman Matt Enright (Webster Groves/Missouri-St. Louis) is second in the GLVC with his 2.77 assist/turnover ratio, just as freshman Bennett Stirtz is second in the MIAA. In keeping with the rookie theme, Drenin Dinkins (South Iron/Southwest Baptist Univ) leads the GLVC in free throw percentage. His 77 for 81 from the line is good for 95.06%. Junior Owen Long (Sikeston/Emporia State) leads the MIAA with his 79 for 88 charity shooting, for 89.77%. I think there are some young men who have spent a lot of open gym time at the free throw line.
Getting it done on both ends of the court is Diego Bernard (Lafayette-St. Joseph) who leads with 2.04 steals/game. That goes along with his team leading 17.1 points per game.
Take a look at the numbers for all 157 cagers with this link.
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