Northern men land top JUCO standout from Michigan

Montana State University-Northern head men's basketball coach Shawn Huse has been able to land some outstanding recruits so far, despite recruiting being hampered by the COVID-19 crisis.

And on Thursday, Huse announced another one with the signing of JoMel Boyd of Glen Oaks Community College in Centreville, Michigan.

For his efforts this season, the 6-6 forward from Anderson, Indiana was named to the MCCAA Western Conference First Team and to the NJCAA XII All-Region Team. He averaged 21.2 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game, which helped him finish second in total conference scoring and rebounding. He shot 56% from the field, averaged 1.1 blocks per game, and was the first player this decade at Glen Oaks to score over 1,000 points (1,196 points) and garner over 500 rebounds (555 total), in his two-year career there.

"We are very excited about the addition of JoMel to our group," Huse said. "He is another high character guy that has been raised well, and had great coaching at Anderson High School (Mike Elliott; selfless contributor on Montana State University 1995-96 Big Sky Conference Championship Team) and Glen Oaks Community College (David Victor). He is a very strong student, is a great person off the floor, and is a big-time difference-maker on the court."

A Glen Oaks CC Residence Hall Assistant and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society member, Boyd carries a 3.5 GPA, and is looking to study in the MSUN Criminal Justice program. He helped guide Glen Oaks to their best win total since 2013, and Coach Victor's most wins in his four complete years as head coach. As a Freshman, he was named to the MCCAA Second Team and All-Freshmen Team. That season he helped the Vikings qualify for a Districts berth, then a semifinal berth before losing to eventual champion, Ancilla CC. This year they narrowly missed Districts, losing to nationally ranked Muskegon CC to get in.

"JoMel is a versatile forward that can really score and rebound from multiple spots on the floor," Huse said. "His ability to finish, get second chance opportunities, block shots, and disrupt teams on defense is remarkable. He actually had more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds as a freshman, and it was almost fifty-fifty this year. With him alongside our returners and incoming guys, I feel like we should really be a lot for opponents to have to handle both inside and outside on offense, while being very tough to score against on at the other end of the floor."

Boyd joins a Lights squad that finished 20-12 in 2019-20. They won 8 out of their last 11 games and narrowly missed an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament. MSUN advanced to the semi-final round of the Frontier Conference Tournament before falling 68-73 at eventual champion Lewis-Clark State.