by By Chad Waller, Director of Communications and Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — (Buy tickets) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the 2015 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball All-Star team and contestants for the 3-Point and Dunk Contests, presented by US Bank. These 10 All-Star players will take on the Division II All-Stars, which were announced March 5, at the NABC-NAIA Men’s Basketball All-Star Game on March 21 at 8 p.m. CDT.
All players with senior eligibility status were in the Division I and Division II All-Star Team selection pool. The teams were selected by the NABC-NAIA Men’s Basketball All-Star Committee, which is comprised of head coaches from both the Division I and Division II ranks. Criteria takes into account season statistics, awards and a champions-of-character aspect.
The Division I All-Star Team is comprised of five players at this time: Craig Anderson of Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.), Shane Butler of Blue Mountain (Miss.), Russell Byrd of The Master’s (Calif.), Matt Qualls of Bacone (Okla.) and Marty Wilkerson of St. Gregory’s (Okla.).
Qualls (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) led the NATION and RRAC in scoring at 26.0 points per game and pulled down a conference leading 11 boards per game. He was named the RRAC Player of the Week 3 times this season and named NAIA National Player of the week one time this season as well.
Matt’s Division 1 All-Stars will face Seminole Tribe of Florida standout out Deforest Carter’s Division 2 All-Stars.
(Note: This is the second consecutive NAIA All-Star game where a Native American athlete(s) was selected. Last year Native American athlete Preston Wynne (Spokane Tribe of Indians) from Vanguard Univeristy was selected to the NAIA Division 1 All-Star team, however, since his team qualified for the championship he did not play.)
