DJ Wright has led his Salt Lake Community College team into the finals against Midland (Tx) College for the Junior College national championship by defeating perennial power and #1 ranked Chipola (Fl.) in the semifinals. IF Salt Lake wins it would be the biggest upset of the tourney if DJ is not named Tourney MVP. He could probably go 0-fer and make the All-Tourney team at this point.
Here’s a full article from the Salt Lake Tribune. Click here. I’ll quote liberally from it below.
D.J. Wright augmented his status as arguably the best player in the NJCAA Tournament, scoring 21 of his 34 points in the second half, as Salt Lake Community College used a 12-0 run late in the game to beat the Indians 78-73 Friday and move into the national title game for the second year in a row.
Wright had perhaps his best game ever in his short junior college career. With the lanky 6-foot-8 Flowers (Gary Flowers, the top junior college recruit in the country, according to jucojunction.com) guarding him for a good portion of the game, the 6-8 freshman forward made 12 of 18 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 from three-point range. At the line, he was especially clutch, going 6 of 8, with all of those makes coming in the final seconds as Chipola tried to rally.
“We knew it was going to be a competitive game,” Wright said. “We just wanted to come out and play hard.”
This after an outstanding performance in the semifinals. Article from Hutchnews.com click here. (Hutchinson Kansas is where the national JC tourney is played).
Freshman forward D.J. Wright wowed the crowd at the Sports Arena with a 22-point first half as the 13th ranked Bruins moved into the tournament semifinals with a 91-55 victory over North Dakota College of Science.
Wright, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Toronto scored all nine points on the run, starting with a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 10:56 mark. He then converted a four-point play – another 3-pointer from the key area while being fouled – at the 9:25 mark and added two free throws 40 seconds later.
Wright certainly settled in, finishing the game with 30 points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes.
“Before the game, coach Parrish is always getting on us about playing hard and just playing Bruin basketball,” Wright said. “That’s what I’ve been taught and that’s what I’m going to do. He’s on my case a lot (laughing), but he’s going to get the best out of me, and I’m going to keep on playing.”
Wright, who originally signed with Louisiana Tech but is now considered one of the top freshmen in junior college basketball, played 15 minutes in the first half and hit 6 of 12 shots – three of them 3-pointers – and 7 of 9 free throws for his 22 points. He added six rebounds.
“D.J. can really get in going, and our guys all know it,” Parrish said. “He’s just had some unbelievable games and unbelievable practices, so our guys know when he starts hitting it, they look for him.”
Wright finished with just eight points in the second half, but the Bruins didn’t need him. They led by as many as 36 points in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought Salt Lake really did a tremendous job in the first half, especially in the first 10 minutes taking us completely out of our offense and forcing us to play one-on-one offensively,” said North Dakota coach Scott Schumacher. “They did a tremendous job getting it to their main guy D.J. Wright and really took us out of the game really quick.”
The first round game
against Shelton State was not even close.
Salt Lake was able to use 6-foot-8 Nate Bendall (Utah State signee) and 6-7 D.J. Wright to score around the basket against a Shelton State team that started just one player taller than 6-4. The Bruins distributed the ball well, as they had 24 assists on 30 baskets.
Bendall and Wright, who both were first-team all-region players, combined for 33 points and 17 rebounds.
“Coach (Norm) Parrish said we need to go inside because we’d have some mismatches down there,” said Wright, who finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
