STEENS — Da’Kameron Mitchell, Kimarri Whitfield, and Dawson Shaw will get one more opportunity to represent Columbus Christian Academy as All-Stars.
Later this week, Mitchell and Whitfield will play in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Senior All-Star Basketball game, while Shaw will play in the Senior All-Star Soccer game.
The All-Star basketball games will run from 10 and 11:30 a.m. Friday (girls and boys, Class A/AA) to 1 and 2:30 p.m. Friday (Class AAA/AAAA) at Jackson Prep. At 4 p.m. Thursday at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, there will be a 3-Point Shoot-out and a Slam Dunk Contest. The All-Star Soccer game will be at 3 p.m. Thursday at Jackson Academy.
Columbus Christian football and boys basketball coach Greg Watkins, who will coach in the boys basketball game, said Mitchell and Whitfield used not making the MAIS All-Star football game (both were first alternates) as motivation in basketball to earn All-Star accolades.
“Kimarri, a couple of years ago, basketball was his heart,” Watkins said. “He has worked real hard since then and signed a scholarship with football (at Mississippi College). One thing he lacked in basketball was ballhandling skills. With RJ (DeLoach) and Dawson (Shaw) out at the first of the year, he had to step up and take on that role, and that is when his ballhandling skills really, really took over, plus his leadership role.
“Da’Kameron has started for me the last two years and has been a key inside guy. He has worked really hard on his outside shot. People would man up on us and we knew if we could just get a couple of outside shots from him, it would make for some difficult mismatches. He ended up doing a good job hitting some threes and pulling the big guys out so our guards could take advantage of it.”
Shaw, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the football team’s season opener in August, returned in a little more than three months from the injury. He ran in the cross country team’s state championship and also played an integral role in boys basketball team’s run to a district title. He played sweeper on the soccer team. He also is a pitcher on the school’s baseball team.
“God has blessed me with a speedy recovery, and I worked hard in therapy,” said Shaw, who used basketball as motivation to come back as soon as possible from the injury. “I wasn’t expecting (to be named an All-Star for soccer), but it is a blessing.”
Watkins said told him he would be back a month earlier than the four months doctors told him he would be out after the surgery. He said he wasn’t surprised to see Shaw come back as quickly as he did.
“He probably did a little more than he should have,” Watkins said. “Running in the cross country meet being one of them, but that is his competitive nature. He is not going to walk anything or do anything halfway. He is going to go full speed.
“I am really proud for all three of the guys. It’s big for our school to send three guys down there. I feel privileged to get to go down there and coach Kimarri and Da’Kameron one last time in a basketball game. I am honored to do that.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.