EMCC’S Butler selected for ALL-MACCC honor

JACKSON – East Mississippi Community College's Blake Butler has been selected to the ALL-MACCC Men's Basketball first team for the second straight year after ranking as the conference's third-leading scorer this past season. The 2022-23 ALLMACCC men's and women's basketball teams, as voted on by conference head coaches, were announced Thursday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

Having taken advantage of the NJCAA'S previous COVID-19 ruling that granted student-athletes an extra year collegiate eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, Butler opted to return to East Mississippi for his third season. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound guard made the most of his opportunity by posting careerhigh scoring (20.3 points per game) and rebounding (6.2 rebounds per game) averages this past year for head coach Billy Begley's 20-6 EMCC Lions team. Along with currently ranking 20th nationally among NJCAA Division I scoring leaders, Butler was EMCC'S No. 2 rebounder and third-leading playmaker for the year with an average of 2.2 assists per game. He also shot a career-best 45% overall from the field in 2022-23 as well as connecting on 33% from 3-point range and 74% from the charity stripe.

With four 30-point performances this season, including a career-high, 45-point effort at Northwest Mississippi in November that earned him NJCAA Division I Player of the Week honors, Butler also garnered MACCC Player of the Week recognition twice this season. In addition, the Louisville, Ky., native collected a spot on the 2023 NJCAA Region 23 All-tournament Team for helping lead the Lions to their first semifinalround regional tournament appearance since 2016.