by David Fawcett
Demabior (Emmanuel) Shokai came home from college in mid-December without a plan.
His college basketball career was at a standstill after Garrett College in Maryland said he was ineligible to play for the men’s basketball team because the junior college had not received his transcripts from his previous school.
He could remain at Garrett as a student, but Shokai thought it was unfair to have his parents continue to pay for college if he could not compete in basketball.
What to do? Put basketball on hold or give it up entirely? Shokai wasn’t sure of his next move until his mother suggested another option the night he arrived home from Garrett.
Asteir, the children’s ministry assistant at All Saints’ Church, told her son that maybe God was calling him to something higher.
Inspired by his mother’s words, Shokai decided to put them into action by pursuing a professional basketball career.
Shokai’s hopes of achieving that goal received a boost in March when he was invited to compete in a EuroLeague summer tournament on July 7-14 in Las Vegas.
If he performs well, a EuroLeague team could award him a contract to play overseas. The EuroLeague is considered the second-best pro basketball league in the world after the NBA.
The 19-year-old understands there is no guarantee that a deal will materialize. So, he has contingency plans in place.
Shokai is studying to receive a certification in Information Technology. He has one more season of junior college eligibility to fall back on or he could try and walk on at a Division I or Division II program.
But going pro remains Plan A. In the best shape of his life, Shokai works out twice a day at the gym and also works with his personal trainer, Meko Carter.
A shot-blocking specialist, Shokai played at Brooke Point High School in Stafford, where he was second-team all-district as a senior before graduating in 2024. The 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward spent his freshman season at Potomac State in West Virginia.
Shokai received his invitation to Las Vegas after performing well in front of pro teams at a basketball showcase March 9 in Atlanta.
“I haven’t seen the game at the highest level, but I’ve seen it at a somewhat high level and I can hang with them,” Shokai said.
Basketball is part of his family legacy. Shokai’s father Akila grew up playing the sport in Sudan and was good enough to earn a spot on the African country’s national team, where he was teammates with Manute Bol.
The second tallest player in the history of the NBA, Bol, who passed away in 2010, stood 7-7. He played college basketball at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut before the Washington Wizards selected him in the 1985 NBA Draft. (Akila represented Bol when Bol was inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame in October 2016. Bridgeport is in Fairfield County.)
Besides representing his country, the 6-8 Akila was also good enough to earn a spot on the Fairleigh Dickinson University men’s basketball team. According to a New York Times article, FDU’s then-head coach, Don Feeley, recruited Akila to the New Jersey-based Division I program after helping to coach the Sudanese national team.
In 2015, Akila and the other members of the 1984-85 FDU men’s basketball team were inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame. That squad became the first team in program history to make the NCAA Division I Tournament and nearly pulled off a huge first-round upset as a No. 16 seed before dropping a 59-55 decision to top-seed Michigan.
Shokai said his father has been a positive influence on his basketball career in preparing him for the rigors of the game.
“He’s hard on me,” Shokai said. “He tells me what to work on and tells me not everything is going to be sweet.”
Shokai learned that lesson firsthand in May of his senior year. At the time, he was on a high, competing in AAU with the prestigious Team Durant as well as with a team in Woodbridge.
But then he dislocated three fingers on his right shooting hand in May during a game.
The moment served him well.
“God humbled me,” Shokai said. “I thought I was the man at the time, but God told me to slow down.”
David Fawcett is a longtime All Saints’ parishioner and an award-winning Sports Editor for InsideNoVa.