Pledger Banks Stats
Tagged in: Junior Tall Blacks, Kiwis Abroad, National Teams, Tall Blacks
Tall Blacks back-up big man Alex Pledger sparked into life for his US college team in North Carolina last week.
Pledger, who sat out six weeks earlier this season with an elbow injury, averaged 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game as his Belmont Abbey Crusaders went 3-0 last week in NCAA division two play.
The Hamilton Boys High product had 19 points (8/9 FG, 3/7 FT), seven rebounds, three blocks and an assist in 25 minutes in his last outing on Monday, a 99-91 conference road win over Mount Olive.
Pledger also had 17 points (3/5 FG, 11/12 FT), seven boards and six blocks in 25 minutes in a 51-46 home win over Erskine on Saturday, and 11 points (4/8 FG, 3/3 FT), eight rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes in an 88-68 home win over Lees-McRae on Thursday.
The three Carolinas-Virginia conference wins lifted the Crusaders to 17-7 overall and 13-4 in league play, with three regular season games remaining.
Also in NCAA-D2, former Tall Black Jeremiah Trueman posted 13 points (6/10 FG, 0/1 3pt, 1/1 FT), seven rebounds, two assists and a block in 31 minutes as his University of Alaska-Anchorage team defeated Montana State-Billings 87-68 at home on Thursday, lifting the Seawolves to 12-11 on the season and 6-4 in the Great North.
Junior Tall Blacks hopeful Richie Edwards continued to march on with his Lakeland High Dreadnaughts in the Florida high school 6A playoffs last week, winning the school’s third straight district title on Saturday.
Edwards had 17 points (7/12 FG, 1/2 3pt, 2/2 FT), seven boards, two assists and two blocks in a 62-46 semifinal win over Plant City on Thursday and then scored 13 of Lakeland’s 22 first half points in a 60-44 6A-district eight championship win over Sarasota Riverview.
The 22-3 Dreadnaughts now move on to the regional quarterfinals against St Petersburg on Thursday.
Another JTBs hopeful, Canterbury’s James Holland, also put up big numbers in two recent games at high school level in Kentucky.
Holland scored 29 points (9/22 FG, 4/7 3pt, 7/7 FT) with 11 assists, six rebounds and a steal as his Bethel Christian Academy team won the KCAA “A” State Tournament in late January, then backed it up with 25 points (8/16 FG, 2/7 3pt, 7/8 FT), 10 boards, five assists and a steal in the Blue Flames latest outing, a 67-44 home win over Heritage Christian. BCA sit at 34-3 with two games remaining before the KCAA playoffs.
In Texas, JTB Dion Prewster played a limited role in San Jacinto College picked up a 75-68 road win on Saturday, improving the Ravens to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in region XIV of national junior college play. Prewster picked up four first half fouls in a game described by his coach as the “Valentine’s Day Massacre”, with both teams combining for 103 free-throw attempts.
New Zealand’s only NCAA-D1 player Rory Fannon saw eight minutes of action combined, with one rebound in two Utah Valley road wins over Savannah State and New Jersey Tech last week, improving the Wolverines to 14-9.
At NAIA level, Canterbury’s Ben Constable and his Northwood University Seahawks continued their rise up the division two rankings, moving to number eight after three wins.
Constable managed a rebound in six minutes in a 77-60 home win over Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday, a point (1/2 FT) in a minute of game time in a 72-60 road win over Edward Waters College on Saturday, and three rebounds in eight minutes on court in a 68-50 home win over Savannah College of Art and Design last week.
The Seahawks, now 24-4 overall and 9-3 in The Sunshine Conference, moved past Harbour guard Ryan Beesley and the defending champion Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls, who slipped from number two in the rankings to number eight after a loss on Wednesday.
Beesley had two points (1/2 FG), four rebounds and a steal in 14 minutes in the 74-61 road loss to Southern, then followed with five points (2/5 FG, 1/3 3pt), two rebounds and an assist in 17 minutes in a 96-67 home win over Northwest Christian on Saturday.
That win completed a perfect 15-0 home season for O-Tech, now 23-5 overall and 13-5 in the Cascade conference, the first time since the 1986-87 season.
In NAIA-D1, West Aucklander Mada Abdelhamid went point-less (0/1 FG) with a rebound in six minutes for Cumberland University in a 74-68 road win over Martin Methodist College last week, lifting the 21-4, 11-3 Bulldogs to 16th in the division one rankings.
Also in the D1 rankings is Emerging Tall Black Zane Meehl and Azusa Pacific University, moving up one place to number 21 after a 90-83 road win over Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday. Meehl had two points (1/1 FG, 0/1 FT) in five minutes of action as the Cougars improved to 17-8 on the year and 10-5 in the Golden State conference.
In NCAA-D3, assistant coaches Tim Bennetts and James Lissaman saw their Rose-Hulman Tech Engineers fall twice last week, leaving them 9-15 overall and 4-11 in the Heartland conference.
