New England Junior College All-Star Game Recap
The annual New England Junior College All Star Game was recently held at the beautiful Vincent Cullen Fieldhouse on the Community College of Rhode Island campus and as usual the talented athletes put on an exciting show for all that attended.
Here in New England there are three division II junior colleges and fourteen division III schools. The difference between the two is that the division II schools can give tuition assistance/scholarships while the division III schools can only give need based financial aid. This scenario always makes for some heated rivalries when the schools compete against each other, especially in the annual all-star game.
Defense was a little less than what the coaches normally are used to seeing, but the offensive talents and skills truly were on display. Drives, dunks and three-point shots made were plentiful and often brought the fans to their feet. Frank Stephenson (Bristol CC/Durfee HS) started the game off with a facial posterizing dunk that set the tone for the division III all-stars and they would go on to earn bragging rights with a 105-98 victory.
The d3 all-stars, coached by Roxbury CC’s Kwame Green, jumped out to a 55-46 halftime lead behind ten points from Jamal Judge (Mass Bay CC/East Boston HS) and Kwamaine McCarter (Gateway CC/Hillhouse HS). Leading Dean Scarafoni’s (Dean College) d2 all-stars was Adam Simpkins (Massasoit CC/Dorchester, MA) with 10 first half points.
The d2 squad found their range in the second half, sinking 10 of their 14 three-point shots and outscoring the d3 team 52-50, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their first half deficit.
The d3 squad led 86-80 with 5:00 left in the game after Jason Collier (CCRI/Ellis Tech) knocked down three consecutive three-pointers, and they would finish strong behind a balanced scoring attack for the victory.
Orlando Echevarria (Bunker Hill CC/Chelsea HS) scored a team high 17 points for the d3 all-stars by muscling his way through the paint while Frank Stephenson had 16, Kwamaine McCarter 14, Jeff Cannon (Roxbury CC/East Boston HS) 14, Tim Sartor (UConn Avery Point/Stonington HS) 11, and Jamal Judge 10. Jackie Lindsay (Spring Tech CC/Bridgeport), Chazz McCarter (Gateway CC/Hillhouse HS), and Ravon Dunbar (Roxbury CC/Charlestown HS) rounded out the scoring with 8 points each. Cannon, Sartor, and Kwamaine McCarter paced the team behind the arc as each player connected on three three-pointers.
Adam Simpkins led the division II all-stars with 15 while Victor Holder (Dean College/New York) had 14, Chris Tanzy (Dean College/Georgia) 12, and Jason Collier 11. Also scoring for the team were Marcellus Lee (Massasoit CC/Quincy HS) and Jordan Wiggins (Massasoit/Bridgewater Raynham) with 8 each and Apollos Wade (CCRI/Taunton HS), Marshall Adams (Dean College/Wisconsin), Anthony Baskerville (Dean College/New Jersey), and Josh Hodge (Dean College/Hall HS) with 6 points each. CCRI’s Colins Burns (Ponagansett HS) and Mike Juarez (Cranston HS East) rounded out the scoring column with 4 each.
The season culminating all-star game was not only fun and entertaining for the crowd on hand but also a college showcase with numerous four years schools on hand from conferences including the Little East and Northeast 10.
Jeff Cannon