POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
Here is the weekly review of the top performing U.S. Virgin Islands players, who play currently abroad.
#1. This week's number one is an experienced former international point guard
Walter Hodge (183-1986, college:
Florida, currently plays in Puerto Rico). He was the major contributor in
Capitanes' victory against the second-ranked Mets (6-6)
98-90 in the Puerto Rican BSN in Wednesday night's game.
Hodge scored 23 points and added 3 assists in 38 minutes on the court; quite an impressive performance considering it's only his first season in pro basketball. It was the game of the round between two top 3 ranked teams. Capitanes de Arecibo (8-5) is placed third in Group A.
Hodge has individually a very good year with high stats. He averages: 18.8ppg, 2.1rpg, 4.3apg, 1.3spg, 2FGP: 43.5%, 3FGP: 40.7% and FT: 91.7%(44-48) in eight games he played so far.
Hodge has a dual citizenship: U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rican.
He played for the U.S. Virgin Islands senior national team year ago.
#2. Second place goes to former international guard
Deon Edwin (190-1992, college:
Kent St., currently plays in North Macedonia). Edwin could not help
Rabotnicki in their last game on Saturday. Despite his very good performance Rabotnicki was defeated
92-87 in a derby game by the lower-ranked Akademija FMP (#6).
Edwin was the second best scorer with 16 points. He also added 7 rebounds and dished 8 assists.
This season Edwin has very high stats. He averages: 20.0ppg, 5.5rpg, 8.9apg, 1.8spg, 2FGP: 57.1%(56-98), 3FGP: 36.4% and FT: 72.7%.
Edwin played for the U.S. Virgin Islands national team in 22.
#3. The U.S. Virgin Islands player who performed third best last week abroad was former international forward
Ivan Aska (201-1990, agency:
011 Sports, college:
Murray St., currently plays in Hungary). He led
DEAC to a victory against the fourth-ranked Kaposvari (16-18)
91-82 in the Hungarian A Division on Wednesday night.
Aska recorded 12 points (made all of his six free throws) in a mere 17 minutes.
Debreceni Egyetem (7-4) is placed fifth in Places 6-10 group.
The Second Stage already ended.
Aska has relatively good stats this year: 12.5ppg, 4.7rpg, 2FGP: 55.8%(158-283), 3FGP: 12.5% and FT: 68.3% in 32 games.
He is another player who holds two passports: U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rican.
Aska played for the U.S. Virgin Islands national team year ago.
#4. Power forward
Jordan Murphy (200-1997, college:
Minnesota, currently plays in Puerto Rico) was not able to help
Leones (8-4) in their last game on Sunday. Despite his good performance the second-placed Leones (8-4) was badly defeated
115-97 on the road by the second-ranked Mets in the Group A.
Murphy recorded 11 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.
Murphy's overall stats this season are: 9.8ppg, 7.7rpg, 1.8apg and 1.2spg.
He has both U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rican nationalities.
Murphy used to play for the U.S. Virgin Islands national team
back in 16.
One more player who has never been selected to any of national teams, but has U.S. Virgin Islands passport: #1. De'Quon Lake (208-F-1997, college:
Arizona St., currently plays in Puerto Rico) contributed to
Grises' victory against the fifth-ranked Cariduros (5-6)
87-81 in the Puerto Rican BSN last Monday.
He scored 6 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in only 12 minutes.
Grises de Humacao (5-4) is placed fourth in Group B.
But this is still an early stage of the season and everything may happen.
This year Lake has relatively solid stats: 11.2ppg, 5.2rpg and 1.6apg in nine games he played so far.
Other top U.S. Virgin Islands players, who play abroad:John Collins (208-PF-1997) plays for
Atlanta Hawks in the NBA
Nicolas Claxton (211-C-1999) plays for
Brooklyn Nets in the NBA
Frank Elegar (208-C-1986) plays for
Napoli in Italian Serie A
Rakeem Christmas (206-F/C-1991) plays for
Cangrejeros in Puerto Rican BSN
Desi Rodriguez (198-F-1996) plays for
s Oliver Baskets in German BBL
Georgio Milligan (188-PG-1990) plays for
Corinthians in Brazilian NBB
Justin Gray (198-F-1995) plays for
Spojnia in Polish EBL
Max Amaro (178-PG-1995) plays for
Cariduros in Puerto Rican BSN
Romani Hansen (203-F-1997) plays for
Starwings in Swiss SBL
Xavier Richards (188-G-1992) plays for
Team Pajulahti in Finnish 1st Division
Earl Thompson (195-F-1993) plays for
Kestrels 2 in British NBL D2
Notice:
The list above includes only some of the U.S. Virgin Islands playing currently abroad. Go to U.S. Virgin Islands Abroad Page to see completed list.
