CHARLOTTE — Sayaun Dent, MVP of the national champions at last month’s Final Four, heads the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III men’s basketball All-America team.
Dent, a former West Bladen High School standout for head coach Travis Pait, led Sandhills Community College of Pinehurst to the national champoinship on March 13. The Flyers prevailed 93-89 over Mohawk Valley of Oneida County, New York, in the championship after having triumphed 84-76 over Rochester Community and Technical College, of Rochester, Minnesota, in the national semifinals earlier in the day.
The entire Final Four was played in one day as the coronavirus was beginning to significantly spread and sports leagues around the country were shutting down. The NCAA Tournament, fondly known as March Madness, was called off one day earlier.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the championship game.
This season, he averaged 17.8 points per game, shot 55.5 percent from the floor and 86.7 percent from the free throw line. He averaged eight rebounds per game, 2.3 assists and made 31.7 percent of his 3-pointers.
In two years with Sandhills, he started 60 of 70 games, averaged 14.4 points and shot at a 54-percent clip from the field.
Dent was joined on the All-America first team by sophomore Jordanny Cuevas-Marte of Mohawk Valley, sophomore Kong Kong of Rochester, sophomore Korey Williams of Hostos Community College in Bronx, New York, and freshman Calvin Williams of Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.
Division III men’s basketball includes 105 teams. With Sandhills in Division III of Region 10 are Central Carolina Community College in Sanford, Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and Johnston Communitiy College in Smithfield.
The three All-America teams and list of honorable mention players were chosen by the NJCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Committee.
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