SLCC basketball: SLCC's No. 23 is top small player

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As far as the SLCC basketball team was concerned, the wrong No. 23 had the big championship game.

We're talking Nick Okorie of South Plains College, by the way, not that retired guy from Chicago. Of course, at times in Saturday's NJCAA title tilt, the Texas Tech-bound guard seemed to have a similar killer touch and air about him while scoring 29 points and lifting the Texans to a 67-56 win.

Despite a not-so-grand finale, the Bruins' No. 23 — shooting guard Brian Green — was still rewarded for his mostly clutch tournament.

Though it was a difficult award to accept just moments after the Bruins' heartbreaking defeat, Green was honored as the NJCAA tournament's outstanding small player. The award is given annually to the most-effective player who's no taller than 6-foot-1.

The 5-11 Green, who was also named to the all-tournament team along with SLCC point guard DaVell Jackson, is just bummed out that his roughest game of the tourney week came in his last outing with the Bruins.

After averaging 19 points and four 3-pointers on 64.5 percent shooting in the Bruins' three victories, Green struggled to find the bottom of the net against the fast and physical Texans. He scored just seven points, missed eight of nine 3-pointers and shot 3-for-13 overall.

"They played very good defense on me," he said. "I couldn't really get open shots. When I did get open shots, I couldn't hit them."

But in its first three performances, the Brian Green Show was the hit of the Sports Arena. SLCC coach Norm Parrish called the award "well deserved."

"He plays his butt off. He never quits. It kind of shows you how we feed off him."

Green said he's proud that SLCC, which doesn't have any players being highly recruited by big Division I programs, finished second.

"No one really believed in us. Look at us, we don't really have that much talent, we've just got a good team," he said.

Green, a former all-stater from Davis High who plans on serving an LDS mission before moving on to Div. I, takes pride in being an undersized player.

"I loved people telling me I couldn't make it this far or I couldn't play college basketball because I'm short," he said. "I love people that (doubt me). I play better. I work harder."