New England Division 3 men’s basketball is filled with a plethora of star players.
These 10 rose to the top in January. All but one player on this list earned weekly honors from their conference. The one exception, Ousmane Kourouma, is the nation’s leading rebounder.
Two players swept their conference player of the week awards in January. One player is leading the No. 1 team in the nation. The remaining selections have undeniably been some of the best players in their conference.
Here are January’s D3 stars.
Lence Altenor, Saint Joseph (Conn.)
Guard, 6-3, Junior
Altenor averaged 18.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.4 assists during January, leading the Blue Jays to a 7-1 month. The junior guard from Everett, Mass., was named the GNAC Player of the Week on Jan. 27. Altenor averaged 24.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a 2-0 week with road wins over Emmanuel and Regis. He was hyper-efficient, shooting 16-for-22 from the field and 9 of 12 from 3 across the two games. Altenor also garnered national recognition for his outings, being named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week.
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Nate Amado, Babson
Guard, 6-3, Senior
Despite Amado’s teammate, Felix Kloman, winning USBWA Division 3 Player of the Week on Jan. 7, Amado, who averaged 21.4 points and 8.1 rebounds a night, was the top Beaver in January. Amado led Babson to a 6-3 month despite Kloman missing the final five games of January.
The senior guard from Hanson, Mass., was named the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 6, averaging 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals. Amado was then named NEWMAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 27 after leading the Beavers to three wins while scoring 22.7 points per game on 52.2 percent shooting. He averaged 9.0 rebounds and totaled eight steals and four blocks during the 3-0 stretch.
Octavio Brito, Keene State
Guard, 6-4, Senior
Brito, named the USBWA Division 3 National Player of the Week in November, has continued his incredible season for the No. 22 Owls (16-3, 10-0 LEC). The star senior guard averaged 24.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in January — a month where Keene State went undefeated (10-0). The two-time D3hoops.com Third Team All-American crossed the 2,000-point threshold on Feb. 4 at Vermont State Castleton.
Brito won all four Little East Conference Player of the Week awards in January, being selected on Jan. 6, Jan. 13, Jan. 20, and Jan. 27. He has now been named the LEC Player of the Week six times this season. The Lincoln, R.I., native ranks ninth in D3 in points per game.
Brandon Goris, Worcester State
Guard, 6-0, Senior
Goris averaged 19.6 points on 57.4 percent shooting and added 4.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Lancers in a 4-5 month. The senior guard earned MASCAC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 21 following a week in which he notched 26.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 72.4 percent from the field in a 1-1 week. Goris netted 28 points on 11 of 17 shooting in a victory at Bridgewater State. He scored 25 points on 10 of 12 shooting in a loss at Westfield State.
The Everett High School (Mass.) alum has had a breakout season, improving from 7.8 points per game as a junior to 15.8 this season.
Toby Harris, Brandeis
Forward, 6-8, Senior
Harris averaged 17.9 points and 6.0 rebounds for the Judges in a 4-3 month. All three losses were against teams ranked in the top six of the D3hoops.com national poll at the time of the matchup. The senior forward notched his 1,00th career point on Jan. 26 in a 92-76 win at Carnegie Mellon.
Harris was named the University Athletic Association Player of the Week on Jan. 6 after averaging 23 points and six rebounds in wins over Middlebury and Rivier. In a loss to No. 3 NYU, Harris scored 25 points on 10 of 16 shooting.
Curt Heinz, Maine Maritime
Forward, 6-8, Senior
Heinz led the Mariners to an 8-2 January, averaging 22.0 points, 14.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.6 steals per game. He earned every award imaginable in the process.
On Jan. 14, Heinz became the first Mariner in program history to be named the USBWA Division 3 National Player of the Week. Heinz notched 32 points, 19 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks in an 85-68 win over Vermont State Johnson to begin the week. He then capped off the week with a 22-point, 21-rebound, 10-assist triple-double while adding four blocks in a blowout
win over Lesley.
Heinz added two North Atlantic Conference Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week awards to his resume, as well as two Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches and Writers Association Co-Player of the Week nods. He is second in D3 in rebounds per game.
Ousmane Kourouma, Rhode Island College
Forward, 6-7, Fifth Year
Kourouma is the leading rebounder in all of D3. He is corralling 15.5 rebounds per game, 7.7 of which are offensive boards — also first in the nation. Thanks to Kourouma’s contributions, the Anchormen are outrebounding their opponents by 11.7 boards per game.
Kourouma averaged 16.5 points and 16.3 rebounds in January, leading Rhode Island College to a 6-2 month. The Woonsocket, R.I., sunk a game-winner with two seconds remaining in an 87-85 victory at UMass Dartmouth on Jan. 8. It capped off a 28-point, 20-rebound double-double on 13-for-17 shooting.
Esmer Madesko, Lasell
Guard, 6-1, Freshman
Madesko earned GNAC Rookie of the Week honors twice in January, on Jan. 13 and Jan. 27. As a freshman guard, he averaged 20.6 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 64.5 percent from the field. Madesko’s hyper-efficient scoring led the Lasers to an undefeated 9-0 month.
The Atlanta, Ga., native netted a career-high 28 points on 13 of 20 shooting on Jan. 15 in an 89-68 win at Emmanuel. He was three rebounds shy of a triple-double on Jan. 4, notching 20 points, 10 assists and seven boards. Madesko shot above 50 percent in seven of nine games in January.
Marcus Montagnino, Endicott
Forward, 6-4, Graduate
Montagnino swept the Conference of New England Player of the Week awards in January, being selected on Jan. 2, Jan. 13, Jan. 21, and Jan. 27. The forward from Gloucester, Mass., averaged 25.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field as the Gulls (13-6, 10-2 CNE) went 7-1 in January.
Montagnino notched Endicott’s second-ever triple-double on Jan. 18, netting 33 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds while connecting on 11 of 16 field goals in a 104-100 win over Hartford. In his prior outing, an 86-72 victory over Roger Williams, Montagnino poured in 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting and snagged 16 rebounds. He earned a spot on the D3hoops.com Team of the Week for those stellar performances.
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Shane Regan, Wesleyan
Guard, 6-2, Senior
Regan averaged 20.5 points and 5.1 rebounds in January for the nation’s top team and the only undefeated team remaining in Division 3 men’s basketball. Anchoring the No. 1 Cardinals (22-0, 8-0 NESCAC) to their best start in team history, Regan notched NESCAC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 13 and Jan. 20.
During the week of Jan. 20, the senior guard scored 25 and 29 points in road wins over Hamilton and Amherst while shooting 63.3 percent across the two games. Regan ended the month with a team-high 23 points on 8 of 15 shooting in a 69-66 win over then-No. 9 Tufts.
