The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN players have been active in early season play at the NCAA Division II level.

Senior men’s national team member Jonathan McFall has had a seamless transition to a new programme and has helped lead Slippery Rock University to a 2-1 record.

The junior wing finished with 12 points and nine rebounds in just 18 minutes of Wednesday’s 101-52 win over Penn State Fayette.

Through three games he is averaging 15.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

He opened with 13 points and eight rebounds in a 99-95 overtime loss to Notre Dame College and followed with 22 points and five rebounds in an 81-71 loss to Alderson Broaddus.

Following an accolade-filled 2021 campaign, McFall entered the NCAA transfer portal after his lone season with the Chowan University Hawks. He was named the Conference Carolinas (CC) Defensive Player of the Year, a Conference Carolinas Second Team selection, and a Conference Carolinas All-Tournament selection. He averaged 17.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game. He also shot 53 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free throw line.

Malachi McCoy is nearly averaging a double double in his third season with the Benedict College Tigers.

The junior forward is averaging 6.3 points, two blocked shots and a team-leading 10 rebounds per game. He opened the season with nine points, a career high 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in a 75-68 loss to Rollins College.

He followed with four points and 10 rebounds in a 72-66 loss to Florida Tech and most recently had six points and nine rebounds in a 64-56 win over Shaw.

As a freshman he averaged 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and last year in the COVID- 19 shortened season he averaged just 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Through two games, Lathaniel Bastian is averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for the Angelo State Rams.

After a 13-point, seven-rebound, three-block performance in his Rams debut, he followed with 16 points, six rebounds and four steals in game two - both wins for Angelo State.

Malik Joseph is averaging 3.7 points and two rebounds per game in his true freshman season for the Newberry Wolf Den.

Joseph posted major numbers in his senior season with the Southside Christian Sabres in South Carolina in the state’s 3A - private school class.

The Eleuthera native averaged 22.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game thus far this season.

Jevaughn Ferguson is averaging 4.7 points and four rebounds per game for the William Jewell Cardinals in his third season with the programme.

As a freshman he averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 26 appearances and averaged 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds last season in 14 games with seven starts.