Six Players Named All-Conference
MARIANNA—The Chipola Indians will play Eastern Florida State in the opening round of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region VIII Men’s Basketball Tournament, Wednesday, March 7, at 8 p.m. (EST) in Ocala.
A win would put Chipola in the semi-finals on Friday, March 9, at 3 p.m. (EST) to face the winner of Indian River vs. St. Petersburg. The single elimination tournament concludes with the championship, Saturday, March 10, at 5 p.m. (EST).
The Indians are representing the Panhandle Conference as the second place team. If Chipola makes it to the championship, they could face conference foe Northwest Florida State. Chipola has beaten Northwest once in the teams’ three regular season meetings.
Chipola scored an 80-69 win over Gulf Coast in the final regular season game on Feb. 24.
Brandon Mahan led the Indians with 19 points and 8 rebounds. TJ Howard scored 13 points. Deric Patton had 12. Shamarkus Kennedy and Keishawn Brewton each scored 10.
Six Chipola players were named to Panhandle All-Conference: First Team—Brandon Mahan (Freshman of the Year), Shamarkus Kennedy and TJ Howard; Second Team—Yuat Alok, Keishawn Brewton and CJ Williamson.
Brandon Mahan shot 52% from behind the arc on 159 three-point attempts. He averaged 15.8 points per game on the season. Brandon is a freshman-qualifier and plans to move on to the Division I level next season. Mahan was also named First Team All-Conference along with Shamarkus Kennedy and TJ Howard.
Kennedy, in his second year at Chipola, led the team in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game and scoring 393 points during the regular season. He also led the team in blocks, with 50, and in rebounds with an average of 7.1 per game. Shamarkus shot an impressive 64% on the year.
Howard, a sophomore guard, had 114 assists on the year, leading the squad. He also averaged 14 points per game and had 39 steals. TJ scored 378 points during the regular season.
Yuat Alok, Keishawn Brewton, and CJ Williamson were named Second Team All-Conference. In his second year as an Indian, Alok averaged 12.3 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, and shot an impressive 55% from the field. He also shot 82% from the free-throw line. Alok has verbally committed to continue his career at Texas Christian University (TCU) next season. Brewton, a freshman guard, led the team in steals with 46. He averaged 9.7 points per game coming off the bench and had 56 assists on the year. Keishawn will return to Chipola next year for his sophomore season. Williamson, a sophomore, averaged 10.1 points per game this season. He had 51 assists and averaged 5.5 rebounds per game. He also had 28 steals on the year.