Port One of Eight in Div. III Selected to Play in Inaugural Collegiate Basketball Invitational

Tom Port

The College of Wooster’s Tom Port (Avon Lake, Ohio / Avon Lake) was one of 60 players nationwide, and among just eight from NCAA Div. III, who will compete in the inaugural Collegiate Basketball Invitational April 19-21, announced McCarthy Sports, Inc., on Friday.

The event is bringing together the top seniors from NCAA Div. II and III as well as NAIA, and will be held at Wadsworth High School in Wadsworth, Ohio. The 60 players have been broken up into six teams and they’ll play a double-elimination tournament Thursday and Friday, leading up to a championship game Saturday at noon as well as an all-star game, which will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 8 p.m. that night. Twenty players will be chosen for the all-star game.

“I sincerely congratulate the 60 players that have been selected to compete in this prestigious event,” said CBI founder John McCarthy in a press release. “I am very excited about these 60 players and I am proud and honored to welcome them to Wadsworth for the first-ever Collegiate Basketball Invitational. I am confident that this class of players will help make the public aware of the high level of talent at the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA levels.”

“I would like to thank our selection committee and the many, many coaches from around the country who have shared their insights and taken their time to provide valuable information about the top seniors in the country. With approximately 900 colleges and universities within these divisions, the selection of players has truly been a challenging task. Narrowing this field to 60 players has been very difficult, as there are many other players at these levels that are very talented players of high character.  We have worked hard to handle this selection process with class and integrity.”

Port is on a team, sponsored by Structure Personnel, Inc., and coached by Kevin Gamble of the University of Illinois at Springfield. His teammates for the tournament will be Eric Babers (Southeastern Oklahoma State Univ.), Michael Bonaparte (College of the Ozarks), John Davis (Tarleton State Univ.), Christian Burns (Philadelphia Univ.), Antonio Fitzgerald (Saint Augustine’s College), Levell Hesia (Oregon Institute of Technology), Alex Kock (Huntington Univ.), Zack Whiting (Chaminade Univ. of Honolulu), and Paul Wright (Mountain State Univ.).

Port led the Fighting Scots to the “Final Four” of the NCAA Div. III Tournament last month, marking the school’s second such appearance in team history. Along the way, he picked up numerous awards, highlighted by first-team selection to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-America Team. Port also was a second-team All-American, according to D3hoops.com, and both organizations tabbed him the Great Lakes Player of the Year, in addition to being the North Coast Athletic Conference’s top player.

Statistically, Port averaged career highs in scoring (16.1 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), field-goal percentage (.534), 3-point percentage (.441), and steals (1.3 spg) during 2006-07, in addition to contributing 3.2 assists and 0.9 blocked shots per game. For his career, Port finished as the lone player to rank among the top-10 in Wooster history in the five main categories – scoring (3rd; 1758 points), rebounding (9th; 758 rebounds), assists (4th; 399), blocks (5th; 116), and steals (10th; 117) – while having led the Scots to a 108-16 record (.871), three NCAC championships, and eight victories in the NCAA tourney since 2003-04.