The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

KENTON Smith ended his NCAA basketball career with another impressive performance, but it came in a losing effort as his Stetson Hatters were eliminated from conference play.

The Hatters fell 81-67 to the University of North Florida Ospreys in the quarter-final round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Tuesday night.

Playing in his final collegiate game, Smith finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. He shot  8-13 from the field including 2-4 from beyond the arch, added two assists, one steal and one block.

The Hatters were the no.8 seed in the field, while the no.1 ranked Ospreys will go on to face the no.5 seed, Limpscomb.

Smith, a Grand Bahamian, finished with the best season of his career and was named to the A-Sun second-team all-conference. He averaged 13.8 points per game and a conference leading 6.8 rebounds per game.

He shot 52 per cent from the field, 32 per cent from three, 69 per cent from the line and added 1.5 blocks per game. Smith scored in double-figures 22 times this season and has six double-doubles.

He ranks second in the conference with 45 blocked shots, the seventh-highest season total in school history.

His numbers increased in conference play to 16.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

In his junior season with the Hatters, Smith appeared in all 31 games, making 28 starts. He was the team’s second-leading scorer at 9.4 points and and second leading rebounder at 5.1 boards per game.

The 6ft 9in Smith scored in double figures 13 times, including season-high 27 points on 9-13 shooting from the field in a loss at North Florida.

Prior to joining the Hatters programme, Smith spent his sophomore year at Otero Junior College in LaJunta, Colorado. He played in 33 games, with 21 starts as a sophomore and averaged 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game

In his freshman season, he played with Sun Belt Conference members Louisiana-Lafayette and appeared in 28 games, averaging 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game.

The son of  son of Debbie and Kenneth Smith, he spent his local high school career with the St George’s Jaguars before relocating to Piney Woods High in Mississippi.

At Piney Woods he was rated by HoopScoop as the no.12 ranked player in the state as a senior when he led them to the Mississippi 2A state championship and earned second-team all-metro honours from the Jackson Clarion-

Ledger.