by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Three Kansas City Kansas Community College sophomores have been named to the 2017 Division II All-Jayhawk Conference men’s basketball team.
Center Jon Murray and guard Kellen Turner were named to the first team and guard Mike Lee Jr. to the second team in voting by conference coaches.
A 6-9 center from Macon, Mo., Murray was a runaway leader in Division II conference rebounding with 9.2 per game. Second in scoring at 14.3 points a game while shooting 47.4 percent from the field, Murray had 15 double-doubles in points and rebounds during the season.
Turner, a 6-0 guard from Liberty, Mo., finished second in the Jayhawk in both scoring (16.5) and 3-point field goal accuracy, converting 99 of 220 attempts for 45.0 percent. Turner was also second in assists (2.9) and third in rebounding (2.9).
A 6-2 guard from Durham, N.C., Lee quarterbacked a KCKCC offense that had the fewest turnovers in Region VI (11.9 per game). Leading the team in assists with 5.6 a game, Lee also averaged 12.2 points, led in steals (2.1) and had an outstanding 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
However, no member of the KCKCC women’s team earned post-season honors although Brooklyn Wagler finished third in Region VI in rebounding (8.3) and shooting percentage (.467) and Brie Tauai was fourth in scoring (14.9) and fifth in rebounding (6.4).
Joining Turner and Murray on the All-Jayhawk first team were Stephon Jackson and Dontre English of Highland, Frank Royals of Labette and Dametrius Walker of Fort Scott. Jackson was named both the league’s Most Valuable Player and Freshman of the Year while Highland’s Jerre Cole was voted Coach of the Year.
Austin Richardson of Johnson County was named the women’s Most Player Player and Highland Mariane Carvalho Freshman of the Year while Jeff Tadtman of Fort Scott and Ben Conrad of Johnson County shared Coach of the Year honors. Richardson and Carvalho were joined on the first team by Ky Essence Collins of Johnson County, Tyra Jones of Labette and Sonja Vukov and Jameka Dowell of Highland.