Ivan Zhivkov, a 6-1 freshman point guard on the Butler County Community College men’s basketball team from Ruse, Bulgaria, has been selected to the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division III all-Region 20 first team. He ranks 10th in Division III in 3-point percentage at 43.3 and 11th in free-throw percentage at 83.3. The NJCAA season ends with the national championship tournament March 11-14 in Herkimer, N.Y. Zhivkov is shown Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, competing against Daven Reynolds, Community College of Allegheny County, in the Field House on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.
(Butler, PA) Nicholas DelGratta, who could become the third Butler County Community College men’s basketball player since 2015 to finish a season with the highest scoring average in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division III, and two teammates have been selected for postseason honors.
DelGratta and Ivan Zhivkov have been named to the NJCAA’s Division III all-Region 20 first team and Kadjali Biola to its honorable mention squad.
“All three of those guys are as committed and dedicated as anyone we’ve ever had,” Pioneers coach Joe Lewandowski said. “Always the first ones in the gym. Always the last ones in the gym.”
The Pioneers compete in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference and in the NJCAA’s Division III Region 20.
BC3 finished 11-13 after an 87-76 loss Feb. 20 to the Community College of Allegheny in the semifinal of a dual-championship tournament for the WPCC and Region 20 titles.
The 2025-2026 NJCAA Division III season will end with the national championship tournament March 11-14 in Herkimer, N.Y.
BC3’s Region 20 picks have “level of grit and toughness”
Kadjali Biola, a 6-3 freshman forward on the Butler County Community College men’s basketball team from New Caledonia in the South Pacific, has been selected to the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division III all-Region 20 honorable mention team. He ranks 11th in Division III with 71 steals. The NJCAA season ends with the national championship tournament March 11-14 in Herkimer, N.Y. Biola is shown Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, competing against Carter Clea-Burwell, Community College of Allegheny County, in the Field House on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.
DelGratta, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward from Struthers, Ohio, played in 20 games for the Pioneers and averaged 29.7 points. He also ranks in the Top 15 in five other statistical categories among players on 63 Division III programs. DelGratta scored at least 30 points in 11 games, including a season-high 47 against Bryant & Stratton, Ohio, on Feb. 16.
“I’m sort of biased, but I think he’s the best player in the country,” Lewandowski said. “All he does is score 47, 40, in the 30s, whatever it takes. A guy who is absolutely a beast and a guy who is super quality.”
Zhivkov, a 6-1 freshman point guard from Ruse, Bulgaria, ranks 10th in Division III in 3-point percentage at 43.3 and 11th in free-throw percentage at 83.3. He averaged 11.2 points per game.
“One of those guys who is just scratching the surface of how good he can be,” Lewandowski said. “Once he adjusted to the U.S. style of play, he really took off. He’s a jet, as fast as they get.”
Biola is 11th in Division III with 71 steals. He averaged 13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds. He is a 6-3 freshman forward from New Caledonia in the South Pacific.
“Most people don’t even know where it is located,” Lewandowski said. “And he came all the way to Butler County Community College to pursue his basketball dream. He had some monster games, whether he was stealing or shooting the basketball.
“All three of those guys come with a level of grit and toughness, and resilience. That’s what made them special. They represented the college as well as anyone ever.”
DelGratta also ranks eighth in Division III with 76 steals and with 594 points, ninth in free throws made with 147, 10th in field goals made with 215 and 11th in field goal percentage at 61.4. He was also selected Feb. 20 to the Region 20 all-tournament team and to the WPCC all-conference squad.
BC3’s Joel Stutz and Alex Alvarez also finished seasons with the highest scoring average in the NJCAA’s Division III, Stutz with 30.0 points in 26 games in 2018-2019 and Alvarez with 30.3 in 26 games in 2014-2015.
Stutz is also the BC3’s men’s basketball program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,366 points over two seasons.
The Pioneers’ Evan Bates, a 6-3 freshman guard from Girard, Ohio, was also named to the WPCC all-conference squad Feb. 20. He averaged 14.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 2026-2027.
DelGratta is a psychology student at BC3; Zhivkov and Bates, physical education-sport management option; and Biola, computer science.
Joining DelGratta and Zhivkov on the five-player NJCAA all-Region 20 first team are Dyami Fox, a freshman forward with the Community College of Allegheny County; and Pennsylvania Highlands Community College sophomore guards Byron Lavender and Desmond Handon Jr.
Joining Biola on the three-player NJCAA all-Region 20 honorable mention squad are Kasson James, freshman forward, Community College of Allegheny County; and Ahmad Boone, freshman guard, Pennsylvania Highlands.