Local Athletes Compete in NCAA Basketball Tournament

By Mike Blum

Four athletes who played high school basketball in Alpharetta and Milton competed in first-round games in the NCAA tournament, with one setting an all-time record and two former teammates helping their squads win their respective openers.

Former Alpharetta High School standout Devontae Cacok set a single season NCAA record for field goal percentage, making five of his six attempts for UNC-Wilmington to finish the year shooting an astounding .800 from the field. The previous mark was under .750, with Cacok easily shattering the former record.

Cacok had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Seahawks, who lost 76-71 to Virginia after leading for much of the game. UNC-Wilmington finished the season 29-6, winning both the regular season and tournament titles in the Colonial conference. The Seahawks were a 12 seed in the East Regional with Virginia a 5 seed.

The 6'7'' Cacok averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds during his sophomore season, with almost all his field goal attempts coming on dunks or following offensive rebounds. As a senior at Alpharetta, he led the Raiders to the state quarterfinals in 2015.

Kaiser Gates and Kobi Simmons, who were part of back-to-back state championship teams at St. Francis in 2014 and 2015, played for winning teams in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday. Gates, a 6'8'' sophomore for Xavier, came off the bench to score 11 points in the Musketeers’ 76-65 victory over Maryland. Xavier, the 11 seed, handily defeated the sixth-seeded Terrapins, with Gates playing a key role. The 6'8'' sophomore connected on three of six 3-point attempts and helped put the game away with a late dunk.

For the season, Gates averaged 5-and-a-half points and 4 rebounds after missing the first few weeks of the season with an injury. Simmons, a guard at Arizona, spent most of his freshman season as a starter for the Wildcats, but lost his spot in the starting lineup when one of the team’s star players returned from an injury. He averaged 9 points and 2 assists during the season, scoring 4 points in Arizona’s 100-82 first round win over North Dakota.

Arizona (31-4) tied for first place in the Pac-12 during the regular season with Oregon, and defeated the Ducks in the conference championship game. The Wildcats are seeded second in the West Regional and play No. 7 St. Mary’s in the second round Saturday.

Xavier, which is also in the West Regional, plays in the second round Saturday, March 18 against third-seeded Florida State. If Xavier and Arizona win their second round games, Gates and Simmons will face each other in the third round next week in San Jose.

Cacok, Simmons and Gates were part of an exceptional All-North Fulton basketball team in 2014-15. Also on that team was Malik Beasley of St. Francis, who had an outstanding freshman season at Florida State last year before being drafted in the first round by the NBA Denver Nuggets, where is on the roster as a sparingly-used reserve.

Joining Cacok and the three St. Francis teammates on the All-North Fulton team two years ago were Milton’s Chris Lewis, who averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds per game as a freshman starter at Harvard, and Chattahoochee’s Marcus Sheffield, who had an inconsistent sophomore season at Stanford, averaging almost 7 points per game with a season high of 35. Sheffield was the North Fulton Player of the Year in 2015, with Simmons earning that honor last year.

The fourth local athlete competing in the NCAA tournament Thursday was Tevin Glass, a starter on Milton’s 2012 state championship team. Glass, who played his senior season at Milton after transferring from Meadowcreek in Gwinnett County, was a starter this season at East Tennessee State, which lost to Florida 80-65 in the first round.

Glass, a 6-8 senior, scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds for ETSU against the Gators, the fourth seed in the East Region. East Tennessee was seeded 13th. East Tennessee finished the year 27-8, sharing the Southern Conference regular season title and winning the conference tournament. Glass averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds on the season.

Like many of the nine Milton players who were starters from 2009-12, winning two state titles and losing twice in championship games, Glass played at multiple schools during his college career. He spent two seasons at a junior college in northwest Florida, and spent one year as a little-used reserve at Wichita State before enjoying a successful senior season at East Tennessee State.

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