The Appalachian Athletic Conference is a NAIA DII men’s basketball league made up of twelve programs from Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
2018-2019 Recap
The Appalachian Athletic Conference is always a very tough league. They finished the year with two teams ranked inside the Top 25 and a third team that was receiving votes. Union (KY) won both the regular season and tournament championships. The tournament title was their sixth straight. Both Union (KY) and Montreat (NC) qualified for the NAIA DII National Tournament, but both were beaten in the first round.
Top Players Returning
ALL-CONFERENCE 1ST TEAM
Name Class Pos School Hometown
Austin Butler JR G Montreat Morganton, NC
Vernon Jackson SO PG Allen Tampa, FL
DeMarkus Loman (AAC DPOY) JR G Union Atlanta, Ga.
ALL-CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM
Name Class Pos School Hometown
Jeremiah Jenkins SO PG Bluefield Norfolk, Va.
Corey Benton SO G CIU Columbus, Ohio
Tyler Nichols JR G Milligan Elizabethton, Tenn.
Ty Patterson (AAC Fr. of the Yr) FR F Tennessee Wesleyan Knoxville, TN
Key Players Lost
AARON Levarity (Milligan (TN)) – Conf Player of the Year (3rd Team All American)
Transferred
EJ Bush (HM All-American) SO G/F Bryan TRANSFERRED (Carson-Newman)
The league will be losing 12 seniors off of the All-Conference List:
Samuel Bunkley SR G/F Reinhardt Detroit, Mich.
Christian Davis SR G Truett McConnell North Augusta, SC
K.J. Duronslet SR G Union Sacramento, Calif.
Jeron Hemphill SR F Montreat Morganton, NC
Aaron Levarity SR F Milligan Freeport, Bahamas
Warren Vinson SR G St. Andrews Rock Hill, SC
ALL-CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM
Name Class Pos School Hometown
Lance Blakley SR F Union Lexington, Ky.
Taboris Griggs SR F Point Decatur, Ga.
Alonzo Mobley SR G/F Montreat Lincolnton, NC
Arthur Pearson SR CIU
Ty’quon Reid SR G Bluefield Goldsboro, N.C.
Latroy Strong SR G/F Reinhardt Jacksonville, Fla.
New Coaches
Coach Newton comes to Reinhardt from Andrew College (NJCAA), after being named the GCAA Coach of the Year. He takes over a Reinhardt team that went 14-14 last season and 12-10 in the AAC.
Coach Deer comes to Point from UT-Tyler, where he was the Associate Head Coach. In his last stint as a Head Coach at Johnson University in Florida he was named the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II South Region Coach of the Year.
