SCOOBA -- East Mississippi sophomore guard CoCo Ware has been named to the 2009-2010 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Preseason All-American Second Team, as announced this week by the NJCAA office headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo.

A second-year standout from Starkville, Ware collected NJCAA All-Region 23 honors a year ago after averaging a team-leading 19.1 points per game for head coach Mark White's 17-11 EMCC Lions. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound backcourt performer was also second on the team in rebounds as a freshman with an average of 6.5 boards per contest, along with averaging 1.5 assists and a team-most 3.0 steals per outing. With a team-high 67 made 3-pointers on the year, Ware shot 46 percent overall from the field in 2008-09, including 36 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and 71 percent from the free-throw line.

With 13 outings of 20 or more points last season, Ware enjoyed an early-season stretch a year ago in which he averaged 24.5 points over an 11-game span for the Lions. Highlighted in that stretch was a career-best, 34-point effort in a 94-91 overtime home triumph over eventual MACJC state champion Jones County on Dec. 2. In last year�€™s key win over the previously unbeaten Bobcats, Ware hit 12-of-20 shots from the field, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. In addition to hitting the game-tying 3-pointer to send the contest into overtime, Ware hit a dramatic running trey and nailed a pair of clutch free throws during the final 23 seconds of the overtime session to help secure EMCC�€™s three-point home victory.

East Mississippi and Jones County will tip off the 2009-2010 hoops campaign Monday during a season-opening basketball doubleheader at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. Coach Sharon Thompson's defending NJCAA Region 23 champion EMCC Lady Lions take on the reigning MACJC state champion Lady Bobcats at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's contest at 7:30 p.m. The EMCC basketball teams will stay at home to play host to East Central on Thursday (Nov. 5) in a doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Release provided by EMCC Athletics